(Bloomberg) -- Russia held a series of anti-terror rallies with government encouragement in the wake of a deadly subway suicide bombing in St. Petersburg.
Thousands of people gathered in several cities from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg under the slogan “Peter, We're With You,” referring to Russia's second-biggest city by a nickname.
In Moscow, pro-government trade unions organized a rally where participants laid flowers near Red Square at a memorial to St. Petersburg's sacrifice during World War II and listened to a concert. Similar events are planned at about 20 cities on Saturday, state television reported.
State television covered the rallies live, in contrast to opposition protests held on March 26, when police arrested 1,500 people at nationwide rallies largely denied official sanction.
On Monday, a subway blast in St. Petersburg killed 14 people including the bomber, who officials said was a radical Islamist born in the mainly Muslim ex-Soviet state of Krygyzstan.
--With assistance from Jake Rudnitsky
To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net, Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at skravchenko@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin
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