Tens of thousands of people are now in downtown Moscow, The Associated Press reports, despite temperatures of minus 4 Fahrenheit.

Banners and placards read "Russia Without Putin!" and "For Free Elections."

The AP says the rally appears to be bigger than one in December that organizers claimed attracted 120,000 people, which was the biggest demonstration in Russia since the protests 20 years ago that helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"So many of us have come that they can't arrest all of us," protester Alexander Zelensky, 56, tells the news service.

Original post: Thousands of people marched in Russian capital Moscow Saturday in a pro-democracy protest over the power of Prime Minister

Vladimir Putin, according to reports.

BBC News said people were taking part in the "For Honest Elections" rally despite expected temperatures as low as minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The main thing is for people not to catch pneumonia ... Three hours in the cold is a serious thing," Boris Nemtsov, a liberal politician and protest organizer, told the BBC.

"I have the feeling that every degree colder it gets, we lose 5,000 people," he added, according to Reuters.

The broadcaster said Kaluzhskaya Square was filling up with people midday Saturday. Many carried white balloons, the color adopted by the movement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46262202/ns/world_news-europe/#.Ty1Pn1zOWSo

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