A Russian headmistress lost her job because she revealed that her colleagues came under heavy pressure to attend a Moscow rally backing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's presidential bid, she said.
The allegations by the teacher at a school in Zelenograd outside Moscow add to concerns about the methods used by the authorities to ensure that the turnout at Saturday's rally matched or exceeded a similar mass protest by anti-Putin movement on the same day.
Elena Travina, 35, said she lost her job after being accused by regional officials of exposing an order by the local education committee that her school send eight teachers to the pro-Putin demonstration.
The regional education committee of Zelenograd declined to comment on her accusation. The rival pro-Putin and anti-Putin rallies in Moscow both attracted tens of thousands of people ahead of the March 4 elections that the Russian prime minister is expected to win.
"On January 30, along with dozens of my colleagues -- the heads of public schools in Zelenograd -- I found out that every institution was expected to send eight people to the pro-Putin demonstration on February 4," said Travina.
"We were told by the regional education committee 'if you cannot go to the demonstration, then warn us first'."
"This well-organised operation outraged me because I wanted to take part in the opposition demonstration which was taking place on the same day in Moscow," she said at her home village of Yershovo near the town of Zvenigorod outside Moscow.
She found three Putin supporters among the staff who were prepared to attend the pro-government demonstration in Moscow.
But her problems started two days before the demonstration when one of her teachers went to a reception at Moscow city hall and was asked by a curious official if teachers had been put under any pressure over the demonstration.
She replied that, yes, it was the case in her school.
Travina said that the city hall rapidly got in touch with the local education committee over the matter.
"I was accused of being the source of an information leak and my resignation was demanded."
A day later, Travina tendered her resignation without waiting to be sacked, as this would have left a black mark in her work register book that Russians are still required to carry.
After she quit, she attended the February 4 opposition rally.
"I was sacked because I did not demonstrate for Putin," read her hand-made banner.
"In this system, everybody knows what is going on, but they don't say anything. People are aware, they are not stupid, but they are also very scared," Travina said.
"These days they don't want professional workers. All they want is obedient employees."
She said she worried how she would earn a living after taking such a tough stance.
"When I got fired, I thought: 'thank God I'm not in jail, but only fired from my job'. But now, I'm unemployed, and I have three kids to look after."
Over 200 state employees have now lodged complaints with Russia's public chamber, a consultative body that advises the Kremlin, that they were obliged by their employers to attend the pro-Putin demonstration.
A nurse in the Moscow suburb of Zelenograd where Travina used to work said ahead of the rally that staff at her hospital had been offered cash incentives of $100 with transport laid on to attend the Putin rally.
State companies ranging from the postal service to the Moscow water utility were also told to mobilise their supporters for the pro-Putin rally, according to observer group Golos which monitors the presidential campaign.
Putin has admitted that the state's "administrative resource" may have been used to mobilise some participants but argued that this alone could not explain the presence of tens of thousands of people at the rally.
His spokesman said people's support showed that Putin would win the election in the first round.