No incidents recorded during St. Petersburg's March Against Hatred

There were no registered excesses during the "March Against Hatred" in St. Petersburg on Saturday, which had been permitted by the city administration, an Interfax correspondent reported.

According to the local police authority, the procession brought together about 200 people.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin, who was present at the event, credited the marchers and the police who were monitoring the procession with peaceful and law-obedient behavior.

The Democratic Petersburg group, the march organizer, issued a declaration after the procession, in part calling for the rule of law, ideological pluralism, an independent judiciary and civil equality.

"We insist on the earliest possible judicial reform, we demand repealing federal and regional laws that infringe upon the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens or individual social groups, and we condemn any form of discrimination and xenophobia," the declaration said.

The document demanded respect for everyone's human dignity and denounced racial, ethnic, religious, social and gender discrimination, and discrimination according to property status and sexual orientation.

Democratic Petersburg put the anticipated turnout at 3,000 in seeking permission for the march.

The first "March Against Hatred" took place in St. Petersburg on December 31, 2004, and commemorated Nikolai Girenko, an ethnologist and human rights activist murdered by neo-Nazis. It was followed by annual "Marches Against Hatred" for the next six years.

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