City authorities originally denied official sanction for the march, but later agreed to a second appeal by activists.

A broad array of social, political, and human rights organizations were represented at the march, which proceeded through the middle of the city north of the Kremlin. Notable participants included For Human Rights Executive Director Lev Ponomarev, Memorial human rights center Director Oleg Orlov, Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin, and Solidarity director Denis Bilunov.

Per agreement, participants in the march carried no political flags or symbols, although it was not immediately clear whether this agreement was made among the participants themselves or on the order of city authorities.

Police officers patrolling the event required activists to march in groups of 50, with separate police escorts assigned to each group. Several dozen protesters did attempt to break through the area cordoned off by security forces, lighting smoke bombs and unfurling banners. Approximately 24 protesters were beaten and detained by police as a result.

The march was intended to conclude with a rally at the end of the designated route, but was delayed due to police requiring all 600 participants to file through only two metal detectors.

After forty minutes of delay, a crowd of protesters broke through the police barrier in an attempt to begin the rally, resulting in police detaining 18 participants and beating dozens more.

Another 50 participants were detained throughout the course of the event, with activists alleging that police were especially harsh in their treatment of younger members of the crowd.

In addition to the memorial march, Moscow residents brought flowers and candles to the place where Markelov and Baburova were murdered throughout the day on Tuesday.

Stanislav Markelov was shot in the head in central Moscow on January 19, 2009. He died at the scene. Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, who had been walking with Markelov, was also shot, and died the same day in the hospital.

Markelov was known for his work defending victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya and violence from ultranationalist and neo-Nazi organizations. Two suspects in the murders, alleged neo-Nazis Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis, were arrested in November and have pleaded guilty to the crimes.

According to rally organizer Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a prominent human rights advocate whose arrest at a New Year’s Eve demonstration in Moscow has drawn international scorn, the city authorities had no basis on which to prohibit the rally.

“We are categorically outraged at this refusal,” Alexeyeva said. She described a sanctioned rally held in January 2009 directly after the murders as having been “quiet and peaceful,” giving authorities no reason to suspect that this year’s rally would be any different.

“But our authorities very much love to prohibit everything; they need to, so that the citizens sit at home, and if they do go outside, then only these ‘Nashi’ will be there with their cries of ‘Hooray Putin!'” Alexeyeva said, referring to the pro-Kremlin youth organization Nashi.

The rights advocate added that the application for the January 19 rally had been filed on December 24, giving authorities plenty of notice.

Stanislav Markelov was shot in the head in central Moscow on January 19, 2009. He died at the scene. Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, who had been walking with Markelov, was also shot, and died the same day in the hospital.

Markelov was known for his work defending victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya and violence from ultranationalist and neo-Nazi organizations. Two suspects in the murder, alleged neo-Nazis Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis, were arrested in November and have plead guilty to the crime.

In Moscow, an estimated one thousand anti-fascist activists gathered on Chistoprudny Boulevard for a rally they called “Russian Patriotism Against Fascism and Xenophobia.” According to speaker Maksim Stepanov, the goal of the demonstration was “to express protest against the neo-Nazi demonstrations” taking place elsewhere in the city that day.

“While they say they’re only fighting against illegal immigrants, there are enough fascist flags at their rallies, and they say their idol is Hitler,” he added.

Stepanov called those gathered to action. “If you see a fascist inscription – paint over it; if you see a person with Nazi insignia – tell him to his face that fascism is not acceptable!”

While the demonstration itself was without incident, Kasparov.ru reports that an eyewitness saw police and men in plain clothes detain several anti-fascist protesters near the Kitai-gorod metro station hours after the event.

In the southeastern outskirts of the city, around two thousand people attended the ultra-nationalist “Russian March.” Many participants brandished flags with swastikas and chanted anti-Semitic and other xenophobic slogans. Detailed instructions on how to acquire firearms were distributed amongst the crowd. Dmitri Demushkin, leader of the Slavic Union, said that soon in Russia “only two things will hold true value – food and ammunition.” The march, sanctioned by city authorities, was held in the Lyublino region of Moscow, where many migrant workers have recently relocated after the closing of a large market complex in June.

Across the river from the Kremlin, an additional concert was held by the ultra-nationalist organization “Russian Image.” The concert, also sanctioned by authorities and attended by approximately 700 people, featured the openly neo-Nazi groups Kolovrat and Khuk Sprava.

The city’s largest rally was held by the radical pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, often considered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s version of the Soviet Komsomol. More than fifteen thousand people gathered for a rally and concert. Leaders of the group preached tolerance to the crowd, chanting “Russia for All.”

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A representative of the Antifa movement said Filatov, known in the movement as “Nok,” was jumped by a group of assailants near him home as he went to work. “According to our information, four to eight people armed with knives were waiting for him in his courtyard,” he said.

The source said that a Russian neo-nazi group had already claimed responsibility for the murder on an internet forum as recently as October 12th. While a murder investigation has been launched, law enforcement officials had yet to verify that information.

The Antifa source said the movement considers Filatov’s murder a “planned action” by extremists. “There is not a shadow of a doubt that he died for his beliefs,” the group’s members wrote in a statement.

Russia has seen a growing presense of neo-nazi and extreme nationalist organizations in recent years, and attacks on immigrants and non-ethnically Russian people have become more common.  Immigrant community leaders have meanwhile accused authorities and law enforcement of being too lenient in pursuing ethnically motivated crimes.

Groups like Antifa have stepped in to try to counter the growing influence of neo-nazis and denounce their racist and violent activities.  Filatov himself helped to found the Moscow Trojan Skinheads, a group described as “a community of anti-political, anti-racist skinheads from Moscow and the Moscow Oblast.”

Filatov was not the first anti-fascist activist to be attacked and killed in recent years.

In November 2005, vocal activist and musician Timur Kacharava, 20, died from knife wounds in St. Petersburg. In April 2006, 19-year-old Alexander Ryukhin was killed by six neo-nazis outside a punk-rock concert. In January 2007, Ivan Yelin was stabbed 20 times by unidentified attackers on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. In March of this year, 16-year-old Alexei Krylov died in Moscow after a group of 15 neo-nazis armed with knives attacked 7 young people near the Kitai Gorod metro station.

Each young man had taken part in the Russian anti-fascist movement.

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Watch “From Russia With Hate,” a short documentary on neo-nazism in Russia, from Current-TV.