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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Bonnie Christian

Russia protests: Hundreds arrested during unauthorised demonstration in Moscow

Russian opposition leader Lyubov Sobol is among more than 600 people arrested at an unauthorised protest in Moscow.

Ms Obol was grabbed by police in central Moscow and hustled into a police van as she demanded to know why she was being held.

Protesters took to the streets for the second week in a row after authorities disqualified a number of opposition candidates from standing in local elections.

Monitoring group OVD-Info said Moscow police had detained 600 people, more than double the number of reported arrests just hours earlier.

Police gave repeated warnings that officers would take active measures to stop demonstrators holding a march along Boulevard Ring, which skirts central Moscow.

Officers in riot gear had earlier moved into the capital and warned people not to protest.

Riot police officers detain a man during an unsanctioned rally urging fair elections in downtown Moscow. (AFP/Getty Images)

Russian news agency TASS reported that one police officer had been injured while making an arrest.

Ms Sobol, who is a lawyer and video blogger, is one of the candidates excluded from the local elections.

A woman talks with a law enforcement officer during the protests. (REUTERS)

She has been on hunger strike for 21 days, and called on others to join the unsanctioned protest on Saturday.

Authorities said she was being held for violating regulations for street demonstrations.

Servicemen of the Russian National Guard detain a protester. (AFP/Getty Images)

Hours after her arrest, she tweeted from a police station, saying she had spent three hours being driven "all over Moscow" by a dozen masked officers.

It comes as nearly 1,400 people were arrested at a similar event last week.

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