About 800 policemen and security officers were dispatched to the site of the hostage-taking to negotiate with the gunmen, he said.

Finally, about 20 policemen, all large men, appeared.

In the "mounted police" in Moscow are about 1,000 policemen and 255 horses.

Under present plans, the force would also include about 2,000 local and foreign civilians and about 360 policemen from various countries.

The paper said about 170 other policemen guarding the hall were immediately disarmed after the assassination attempt.

The search, involving about 1,000 policemen, began at 5:30 this morning.

So this afternoon, about 100 riot-equipped policemen served notice that they were no longer allowed to open in the afternoon.

The authorities allowed the funeral to take place without restrictions but kept about 1,200 policemen on duty nearby.

In this initial clash, about 100 protesters and 21 policemen were injured.

Now numbering about 1,000 policemen, the unit has squads in 17 cities around the nation.