This Friday opposition activists submitted an application to the Moscow mayor's office to conduct a protest rally on September 15.

According to opposition's plan, up to 50 thousand people may take to the streets on September 15. The planned march would take place from Belarus railway station and go along Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets. The march is planned to end at Borovitskaya square with a protest rally.

The activists are going to protest against violations of Russian laws and human rights, they also plan "to express demands for fair elections, both parliamentary and presidential, and demand respect for human rights and international responsibilities," said one of the organizers of the rally, Nadezhda Mityushkina, to Gazeta.ru.
Negotiations with the mayor's office are expected to be tough, thinks Sergey Udalstov, an opposition leader. There has not been a single application for an opposition rally that has been approved by the authorities on the first attempt.

In an interview to Gazeta.ru, Udaltsov admitted that the request to conduct the rally near the Kremlin is "a strategic step."

"If we asked to conduct the rally on Bolotnaya square, they would send us to Luzhniki. By requesting a more central location there is a chance that we may be sent not as far from the requested place," Udaltsov said.

Mityshkina said she doubts that the mayor's office would approve the rally route. "We have never been allowed to march on Tverskaya street. We were told that Tverskaya was closed to public marches," she said.
The mayor's office is expected to give its reply next week.