MOSCOW. April 30 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 18,000 personnel, including police and troops, will maintain security during May holiday events, said deputy head of the Moscow Police Department and chief of the Public Order Division Vyacheslav Kozlov.
Overall, about 217 May Day events and events to mark the 69th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War which the Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany, will be held in Moscow from May 1 to 11," Kozlov told reporters on Tuesday.
He said public order and security will be maintained by over 18,000 police, interior troops, volunteers and employees of private security organizations. Mounted police will be involved, too, and recreation zones will be overseen from a helicopter.
Around 92 cultural, entertainment, public, sports and other events will be held at 50 venues on Spring and Labor Day, including Manezhnaya, Triumfalnaya, Pushkinskaya and Red squares, Ploshchad Revolutsii, the Poklonnaya Gora memorial park and the Luzhniki Olympic complex, including Moscow's 15 pedestrian zones.
"Twelve marches will take place to be capped by rallies, six rallies will be held without marches and one demonstration will be staged - an unprecedented number of events. About 120,000 people are expected to join trade union demonstrations," Kozlov said.
"On May 9 public security and order will be maintained by 10,000 personnel. Artillery gun salute will be fired at 16 sites," he said.
One hundred and twenty-five events will be held on the city's central squares and pedestrian zones to mark Victory Day, Kozlov said.