ST PETERSBURG - Police yesterday blocked Kremlin opponents from holding unlicensed marches in Russia's two main cities over the economic crisis and detained more than 150 activists.
Marches of discontent have become a trademark protest by a coalition of small opposition groups, from liberals to communists, led by former chess champion Garry Kasparov and writer Eduard Limonov, head of the outlawed National Bolshevik party.
Witnesses said police trucks sealed off two squares in central Moscow, where the Other Russia coalition wanted to start its march.
Cordons prevented a handful of opposition supporters from entering the squares. Police detained two dozen elderly Soviet officers at Pushkinskaya Square and several activists, including Limonov, at Triumfalnaya Square.
In St Petersburg, police blocked about 100 protesters who were planning to march down the city's main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospekt, to Chernyshevsky Square, the venue of an officially allowed rally. Several opposition activists were detained.
Fewer than 500 protesters later turned up at the Chernyshevsky Square chanting, "No to police state!" and "Authorities, answer for the crisis!" The rally lasted for an hour and ended peacefully.
"They are saving their money," Sergei Gulyayev of the Other Russia coalition told the rally. "They will not save the Russian economy. With this government, this president and this prime minister, we are heading to a collapse."
The radical opposition has enjoyed little support during eight years of economic boom but hopes this will change now that Russia is facing economic crisis. - (Reuters)