MOSCOW-- An eighty-two year old Russian human rights activist has been attacked while paying tribute to the people who died in the Moscow metro bombings. Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the MoscowHelsinki Group was laying flowers at the Park Kultury metro station on Wednesday evening in memory of the victims of Monday's bombings, when a man hit her in the face. "He did not break anything. It felt like my blood pressure had risen, but it's fine," Alexeyeva told RIA Novosti late on Wednesday. The man, who was immediately detained by police, is due to appear in court on assault charges. Another human rights activist, Lev Ponomaryov, leader of the For Human Rights group, was badly beaten outside his house on Tuesday night. At least 39 people died and dozens more were injured when suicide bombers struck two metro stations about 40 minutes apart during the morning rush hour. More than 3,000 people also paid their respects to the metro bombing dead in Moscow's Lubyanka Square, within walking distance of the eponymous metro station where the first bomb attack took place. The attack on Alexeyeva came as nearly 30 opposition protestors were detained on downtown Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square during a rally in which demonstrators were outnumbered by riot police. To the accompaniment of perestroika-era rock music such as Kino's Peremen (Changes), the protestors demanded the right to assembly, as guaranteed by the constitution. Eduard Limonov, the Other Russia leader and writer, was among those detained. Major pro-Kremlin youth organizations held a counter rally on the square amid pledges to "educate" the opposition about youth projects and how to "channel their energy in the right direction." Dozens of protesters were detained on Wednesday in other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Omsk, and Vladivostok, while trying to hold unsanctioned rallies.
