Police detained opposition activists on Tuesday at a protest in a provincial city that Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov said was thwarted by Russian authorities intent on silencing dissent, Russian media reported.
About 150 people tried to make heir way from a central square in Voronezh, where authorities had barred protesters from gathering, to another site where opposition groups had been granted permission to demonstrate, Ren-TV and Ekho Moskvy radio reported.
Several were detained on the way, including organizers of the latest in a series of protests called "Dissenters' Marches," the reports said. Ren-TV showed footage of police roughly grabbing a man and holding him down on the pavement.
PHOTO: AFP
Kasparov, the chess great who has been among the chief organizers of the Dissenters' Marches -- some of which have been violently broken up by police -- said that opposition activists in the provinces face severe harassment from government authorities.
"Our work in the regions is marked by huge difficulties and huge risks, because our activists are under wild pressure from the authorities," Kasparov said in comments broadcast on Ren-TV.
The channel reported that police said the allotted time for the protest was up and ordered participants to leave as Kasparov was preparing to speak.
Activists said authorities in the city 500km south of Moscow had hindered their efforts to hold an effective protest by waiting until there was little time left before saying that they could not gather at the central square and offering the alternate site.
Kasparov, who Ren-TV said went straight to the approved site, was not detained.
Last week, Kasparov vowed to continue his movement's marches against the Kremlin, despite the violence by police who have beat demonstrators and bystanders at previous Dissenters' Marches.
Their next major demonstration is due to take place on June 9 on the sidelines of an international conference in St. Petersburg.
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