Vladikavkaz: 500 people come to opposition rally in South Ossetia

The today's opposition rally in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, ended with a ruckus between supporters of Eduard Kokoity, the incumbent President of South Ossetia, and oppositionists. Supporters of the republic's authorities complained that they had no chance to speak during the rally.

One of the main requirements of the rally participants was to conduct a fair presidential election in the republic in November 2011.

Robert Kokoity, the head of the public movement "For Fair Elections" first addressed the audience. "We believe that these elections are truly decisive for South Ossetia. This is the first presidential election after independence announcement, therefore the value of passportization is more important than ever," stated Mr Kokoity.

"There is an opinion among the community of North Ossetia, that South Ossetians should solve their problems in the South Ossetia territory. But this is the opinion of those people who do not realize what is happening in the country. Conducting such pickets and rallies is the only way to attract the attention of society, authorities, and the government of the Russian Federation, since we are all citizens of Russia, to our problems," said Fatima Margieva, a human rights activist, at the rally.

More than 100 supporters of the President Kokoity: deputies of the Parliament of South Ossetia, representatives of OMON (riot police) and state guard, and other residents of the republic also attended the rally.

During the speech of the South Ossetian opposition representatives a woman, supporting the president, has mounted the stair landing and began to shout loudly that the authorities' opponents should conduct their rallies in Tskhinvali. After that the talk between the supporters of the authorities moved to higher tones. The police of North Ossetia demanded to finish the event in order to avoid deterioration of the situation.