Several thousand people are rallying in Moscow to protest against recent restrictions on internet freedom in Russia.

Protesters flocked to a central street on Monday, which is a public holiday in Russia, to rally against authorities' move to block parts of the internet in Russia.

According to a Russian group that counts people at rallies, more than 10,000 people came to the demonstration, many of them holding placards with slogans in support of popular messaging app Telegram.

Russian authorities this month began to block Telegram over its refusal to hand over encryption keys. Telegram, which was developed by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, has refused to share data, citing privacy concerns. It has promised to keep the app running despite the ban.

On his social media page, Durov called the rally "unprecedented," adding that he was proud to be born in the same country as those who came.

In a battle to cripple Telegram's operations, the Russian communications watchdog earlier this month blocked some servers owned by tech giants Google and Amazon, affecting millions of Russian websites.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny also joined the rally and addressed the attendees from the stage.