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Moscow arrests hundreds in anti-Putin rally

Police arrest an activist in central Moscow during a rally yesterday by a opposition groups who have accused President Vldamir Putin of dismantling democracy. PHOTO: AFP

Russian riot police detained as many as 200 demonstrators yesterday, including opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov, in a crackdown on a banned protest in central Moscow.

Thousands of riot police and interior ministry soldiers in camouflage battledress locked down the city center to prevent a march by The Other Russia, a coalition of groups that accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of dismantling democracy.

Kasparov, one of the leaders of The Other Russia, was detained as he attempted to lead demonstrators on to the historic Pushkin Square. Scores of other activists were seen being detained and loaded on to police buses.

"What's going on with the authorities? Have they lost their minds? What's going on with this military operation?" asked another opposition leader, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, as paramilitary police blocked him from entering Pushkin Square.

Tensions are rising ahead of the presidential election next year, when Putin is constitutionally required to step down at the end of his second term.

Putin, who has overseen rapid economic growth in Russia, is widely popular. Opponents say this is largely the result of a powerful state media machine and the marginalization of real opponents.

The Other Russia -- ranging from pro-Western liberals to radical leftists -- dubbed its protest yesterday the "March of Dissent" and said the Kremlin was rattled.

"We are pushing for change through elections. But we want real, free elections, not imitations, in our country," Kasyanov said.

The demonstration comes after one of Putin's most outspoken critics, multimillionaire Boris Berezovsky, said he was planning a "revolution" from his exile in London.

Moscow called on London to expel Berezovsky, who has political asylum in Britain, following the comments published on Friday in the Guardian newspaper.

Opposition activists had hoped to gather in Pushkin Square despite a ban by the city authorities.

After being blocked, hundreds of protesters marched toward a site outside the city center, where they were authorized to rally.

A spokesman for Moscow police, Viktor Biryukov, told the ITAR-TASS news agency that 9,000 police and troops were deployed to control both the opposition and a series of other demonstrations, including by the pro-Kremlin youth group Young Guard.

"Our colleagues have been ordered to ensure order in a calm, polite way," Biryukov said.
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