As Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, the purpose of the amendments,recently introduced into the legislation on holding rallies, was initially a concern for the safety of citizens. This was the reason for clarifying the provisions of the law relating to holding mass events. The main change was the responsibility for violating the law on rallies. The law now provides for a clear gradation of penalties, which depends on the consequences of illegal actions. The list of possible offenses has been expanded from two to eight. The most severe sanctions will be expected by those whose actions in the organization of mass actions and during their conduct will cause situations that have caused harm to human health or property damage. The upper limit of fines for such violations for legal entities is 1 million rubles. The maximum fine that a citizen may face is 300,000 rubles. For officials, this amount doubles. By court order, violators can now be punished in compulsory labor for up to 200 hours. The organization of such work will have to regulate legal acts in the regions. A group of people who can not be involved in compulsory work is identified. These are pregnant women, disabled people, women with children under 3 years old, military, as well as some other groups of citizens. For avoiding compulsory work, a large fine or arrest for up to 15 days is threatened. The new edition of the law on rallies also specifies the responsibility of the organizers of public events. The organizers of the rallies are exempted from the responsibility for causing harm caused by the participants of the event, if in a timely manner the representatives of law enforcement bodies are pointed out to the violators. Moreover, such treatment must be fixed. Legislative innovations also concern the equipping of participants in public actions. Now they are forbidden to appear in masks or use other ways of hiding their identity, making it difficult to identify. You can not participate in rallies in tightly closed hoods, in a veil, and in a gauze dressing. This is the main essence of legislative innovations. Amendments to the law on rallies, which came into force on June 9, 2012, have not yet affected the actions of opposition forces held in June, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Observers do not exclude that the absence of detainees during events in the Russian capital testifies that the new legislation did work. Political analysts in general unanimously note a decrease in public interest in protest actions.