Moscow Curb on Rallies Is Protested : Russia: City bans demonstrations that block traffic and will bill organizers for costs. Liberals and Communists brand the rules ‘unjust.’

Liberals and Communists alike attacked as “unjust” a decision on Tuesday by Moscow authorities to ban marches and demonstrations that block traffic and to charge rally organizers for costs incurred by the city.

“They cannot prevent us from marching!” exclaimed Alexei A. Sergeyev, a conservative economist and a leader of one of the pro-Communist groups planning a demonstration. “We have the right to protest peacefully against (President Boris N.) Yeltsin’s policies . . . which are leading to the complete impoverishment of the Russian people.”

Sounding much like the liberals did last winter when the then-Soviet government banned demonstrations in the city’s center, Sergeyev declared that the Moscow officials’ ruling will not deter him or his comrades. “We will use our constitutional rights to fight for the ouster of Yeltsin’s government,” he said in a telephone interview.

Liberals also protested the ruling, accusing the new democratic leaders of trying to use the same tactics Communist Party hard-liners used against them.

“It’s unjust,” said Yevgenia Y. Debryanskaya, a longtime civil rights activist. “The Communists have the right to exercise their freedom of expression, if they want to. I say this although I’ve spent several years of my life fighting against the Communists. Freedom of conscience must be guaranteed for everyone.”

The city’s decision was prompted by competing demonstrations--for and against Yeltsin’s government--that were planned for this weekend. According to the ruling, the pro-Communists will be permitted to demonstrate only on Manezh Square, outside the Kremlin Wall. But Sergeyev said the march from Gorky Park to the Kremlin--a popular route for anti-Communist rallies over the last few years--will go ahead as planned.

“Everyone knows the meeting place is Gorky Park,” he said. “It is too late to change it. This was just a cheap trick by Russian leaders to try to diminish the size of our meeting. They’re afraid of us.”

Organizers of the reactionary rally had already rerouted their march, which was scheduled to begin at Gorky Park and go to the Russian Parliament building, after they learned that a pro-Yeltsin rally was also planned for the Parliament building. “We wanted to avoid a conflict,” Sergeyev said. “Our protest is a peaceful one.”

Moscow officials have sanctioned a rally at the Russian Parliament building by democratic groups, including the Live Circle movement, made up of those who protected the Parliament building during last August’s hard-line coup. These groups had applied for permission to demonstrate there first, the Tass news agency said.

Sergeyev criticized Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov, who often spoke at liberal meetings over the last few years, and his government for deciding to charge organizers of political meetings for crowd control, loudspeakers and other costs. “When it was their time to hold meetings, they did not think about the fact that they were costing the government lots of money,” he said. “Now, when people will no longer go out into the streets for them, they start charging us money. It’s unjust.”

Vice Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, according to the Russian Information Agency, termed the decision unavoidable, saying: “Moscow cannot afford more expenses when this or that population group merely burns to speak out.”

Sergeyev predicted that as many as 100,000 people will join the conservative march because of dissatisfaction with Yeltsin’s economic policies, which have sent prices soaring. “People have nothing left to do but to come out into the streets,” he said. “Prices keep going up, but salaries stay low. And people have eaten the food they had stored up for these difficult times.”

But in recent demonstrations, pro-Communists have not been able to attract more than 5,000 to 10,000 people. They now hope, however, for greater support in reaction to the hardships caused by Yeltsin’s recent economic reforms.

Liberals and conservatives said the city government’s ruling shows that the current government is not as committed to freedom of speech and other civil rights as it claimed to be. “They call themselves democrats, but they are just Communists who managed to leave the party on time,” said Debryanskaya, the civil rights activist. “And this ruling shows they do not respect basic civil rights.”

The restrictions on marches came on the same day that emergency ward doctors blocked the main road around Moscow’s downtown to protest low wages and poor working conditions.

“We can afford only half a kilo (about a pound) of sausage (per month) and have to work in horrible conditions,” was the theme of the doctors’ demonstration.