m. were allowed to enter the square, leaving a number of others outside the barriers. The total number of demonstrators gathered was estimated as over 3,000 by the organizers and about 500 according to the police. Earlier, on Friday and Saturday, police raided Saint Petersburg Yabloko headquarters to confiscate publicity material about the march, demanded information about those involved in the printing and distribution of it and detained several distributors. There were some speculation that Garry Kasparov failed to take part in the Saint Petersburg event because he had been released from police detention too late in the aftermath of the Saturday rally in Moscow. During the meeting protesters chanted slogans targeting policies of President Vladimir Putin and Governor Valentina Matviyenko, demanding an end to corruption and police violence against dissenters, greater accountability of the authorities, as well as free mass media and elections, and claiming that they were not afraid. As in two hours protesters had begun to disperse, heading toward the nearby Pushkinskaya metro station, OMON started beating them as well as some passersby with truncheons. Some of the victims were later hospitalized. Police detained about 120 participants (according to official figures) including Eduard Limonov, Maxim Reznik and Sergey Gulyayev himself, with his left arm broken in the clash. Reaction On Sunday evening, Russia TV Channel broadcast a shortened and recut version of a French documentary alleging that the recent revolutions in Eastern Europe (Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine) had been masterminded by the U.S. government, which had been heavily advertised and has been perceived by many as an effort to counter effects of the Saturday and Sunday protests. The protests themselves enjoyed little attention from the state-owned television channels. In an interview on Russia Today TV aired on April 17, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Dissenters Marches of the weekend extremely insignificant. On April 16, European Commission spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann expressed concern over the police response and said that EU foreign ministers would raise the issue at talks with Russia in Luxembourg next week. U.S. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also voiced concern over "an emerging pattern of use of excessive force" by the authorities with special reference to police's treatment of journalists. However, opinions varied. On April 21, pro-Kremlin political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky claimed in his weekly program Real Politics aired on NTV that the OMON troops that had dispersed the protesters last week were