10,000 People rally in Moscow to protest Putin's re-election

Some 10,000 people rallied in downtown Moscow on Saturday to protest alleged fraud in Sunday's presidential election in which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won by a landslide victory. Opposition leader Vladimir Ryzhokov told the rally that the opposition would continue to demand a re-run of the presidential poll under new electoral rules. He also asked the government to end media censorship and release political prisoners. "We want further reforms," he said. Moscow city authorities granted permission for a rally of up to 50,000 people. However, the number of participants was far below the opposition's expectation. Russia has witnessed several massive rallies since last December's parliamentary elections. Protesters accused Putin's United Russia party of vote fraud and demanded political reforms. Putin, who served as president between 2000 and 2008, handpicked Dmitry Medvedev as his party's presidential candidate for 2008 elections as he himself was barred from a third consecutive term by the constitution. After Medvedev's election, Putin became prime minister.