319_52 interference 52. In the present case, the Government stressed that the applicants had been holding an unauthorised demonstration which had had to be dispersed, and that since the applicants had failed to obey the order to stop the march, it had been necessary to arrest them in order to maintain public order. They also submitted that the applicants had been convicted of an administrative offence for their failure to follow the police instruction to stop the march, imposed in accordance with section 17.4 of the Federal Law on Assemblies. That provision stipulated the imposition of administrative liability on participants of public events for non-compliance with lawful orders of the police. The applicants, for their part, considered that in fact they had been sanctioned for having taken part in an authorised demonstration at Chistyye Prudy. The Court considers that under any interpretation there was a clear and acknowledged link between the exercise of the freedom of peaceful assembly by the applicants and the measures taken against them. Accordingly, their arrest, detention and the ensuing administrative charges constituted an interference with their right guaranteed by Article 11 of the Convention. (c) Whether the interference was justified