The city [St. Pete's] made a decree on Aug. 16 which bans bicycles, horses and roller skates on 24 major streets of St.Petersburg. Also, the city traffic police now requires that bicycles are registered and get licenses. (Another bureacratic nightmare for ordinary people and more money for the state/police!) Ironically, Vladmir Yakovlev is the head of the St. Petersburg Federation of Bicycle Sport and is a cyclist himself. So the protest started at Yakovlev's house and went to city hall.