Kenya's embattled opposition was poised to begin three days of mass rallies to protest an intensely disputed presidential vote they say was rigged in favour of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki.

The Georgian opposition is holding a new rally in Tbilisi, urging people to unite against violence. Some 4,000 people have gathered on Rike Square in Tbilisi, in the first mass demonstration after police cracked down on protestors on November 7.

The opposition group Other Russia has begun its latest demonstration in Moscow. Opposition leaders Garry Kasparov and Eduard Limonov are among the estimated 1,000 participants, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported.

Garry Kasparov, Russian opposition leader, said Monday that he will not give up his protest marches against Kremlin, in spite of many of them were violently dispersed by police or subjected to pressure and Kasparov was even blocked from taking part in march last week.

Russian authorities' brutal crackdown on the March of Dissent rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg earlier this month was just one element in a broader campaign of intimidation against Russia's political opposition and few remaining alternative mass media organizations.

The Kyrgyz government has banned any continuation of opposition rallies after clashes broke out between police and demonstrators last night in Bishkek, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported.

Thousands of antigovernment protesters gathered today in Kyrgyzstan's capital in the eighth day of demonstrations demanding sweeping political changes. But the list of demands grew on April 17, when a group of deputies indicated protesters would get nothing if the "disorder" in Bishkek continued.

The Kremlin today dismissed recent opposition rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg as "extremely marginal." Speaking on state-run television station Russia today, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said that foreign media had exaggerated the police crackdown on the April 14-15 rallies, although he said there had been some "overreaction" by the police.

Rallies in St. Petersburg and Moscow saw some of the largest displays of police force used against the political opposition since President Vladimir Putin took office seven years ago.

Russian police detained more than 100 anti-Kremlin activists today in a bid to stop an unauthorized opposition rally in Moscow, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported.

Russian police today said they would crack down harshly on attempts to hold unauthorized opposition rallies planned for April 14 in Moscow and April 15 in St. Petersburg, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported.