An unusually large and unruly protest against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin ended here on Saturday in clashes with the police and the arrest of opposition leaders.
Rally organizers and the police said more than 100 people were arrested after a midafternoon scuffle between marchers and riot police on the main street, Nevsky Prospekt, in the heart of the city's tourist district. St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, is Putin's hometown.
The rally was held in advance of local elections scheduled for next Sunday. Opposition events typically draw no more than several hundred people, but several thousand gathered for the rally in Vosstaniya Square.
PHOTO: EPA
Two leaders of what is left of Russia's liberal opposition, Garry Kasparov, the former chess grandmaster, and Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister, spoke to the crowd. Then the protesters, accompanied by Kasparov, marched most of the length of the street, pushing through three police cordons as sirens wailed and Interior Ministry riot police scrambled to block their path.
The rally marked one of the higher-profile actions by Kasparov since he retired from professional chess to dedicate himself to opposition politics.
"This is our first real victory," Kasparov, speaking over a bullhorn, told the crowd on the muddy street, surrounded by rows of police.
"I congratulate you for overcoming your fear. We will have victory when we get our Russia back. We have 364 days before the election in 2008," he said.
Minutes after Kasparov spoke and left the area, the police broke up the crowd, first arresting the speaker who had taken Kasparov's place.
Kasparov had handed the bullhorn to Sergey Gulayev, a member of an opposition faction in the local legislature in St. Petersburg.
"The government is afraid of the slightest wind," Gulayev told the crowd.
"The government is fragile, and afraid, and will collapse with one push," he said.
As he spoke, riot police shoved through the crowd and grabbed the bullhorn from his hands, smashing it against the wall of a building. A policeman put Gulayev, grimacing, in a headlock and dragged him into a police vehicle as members of the crowd yelled: "Shame! Shame!"
A wedge of police swinging nightsticks then divided the crowd and pushed it toward the sidewalks. Some protesters fought back and a melee erupted, lasting about a minute.
On Friday, Kasparov, Kasyanov and Eduard Limonov, head of the National Bolshevik party, led a meeting of the United Civil Front political opposition group in St. Petersburg.
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