MOSCOW -- Police in Moscow tried to disperse a gathering devoted to the fifth anniversary of the loss of life at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia on September 3, 2004, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
One of the organizers of the demonstration, Aleksandr Tutaev, speculated to RFE/RL that a sign held by a demonstrator reading, "Enough with the lies, enough with the blood, enough with Putin!" might have irritated the authorities.
Russian authorities received sharp criticism after their effort to free some 1,000 hostages at School No. 1 in Beslan left more than 330 hostages dead, most of them children.
Tutaev said the participants read aloud Russian laws on mass gatherings and warned the police that dispersing the gathering would violate the laws and the rights of the demonstrators.
Similar gatherings were being held in nine places in the Russian capital, Moscow, where terrorists have struck.