At least 3,000 students, many from Africa, have marched through to protest a series of racially motivated attacks in Russia's second largest city.
The march follows the shooting death Friday of a Senegalese student by an attacker, who left a gun near the scene decorated with a swastika. Police earlier this week reported the arrest of a suspect in the case.
St. Petersburg and Moscow have seen a sharp rise in racially-motivated attacks in the last year.
Late last month, a nine-year-old girl of mixed race was stabbed by suspected racists in an apartment building. She survived the attack.
The wave of hate crimes is the focus of mounting concern for the Kremlin as it prepares to host the summit of the world's seven leading industrial countries and Russia in St. Petersburg in July.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
