- Title: RUSSIA: Police arrest nationalist protesters in St. Petersburg
- Date: 4th November 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN AUDIENCE SINGING AND WAVING FLAGS
- Embargoed: 19th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- City:
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Crime,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8SHHR00RX7ZZCCIZKQY12XDUV
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Police arrest more than 30 nationalist protesters who try to march along St. Petersburg's main street, while thousands of protesters rally in Moscow without incident.
Police in Russia's second city St. Petersburg on Sunday (November 4) arrested more than 30 protesters who attempted to march along the main street Nevsky Prospekt.
Protesters holding imperial flags in the tricolour yellow, black and white, protesters chanted "One for all, and all for one", as police in riot gear grabbed them and dragged or carried them into waiting buses. Unlike their nationalist brethren in Moscow, St. Petersburg protesters did not have permission from city authorities to carry out a march.
Marchers and ordinary pedestrians mingled on the city's main street, creating a challenge for police who aimed to detain protesters. Riot police stopped and searched people carrying flags or whom they suspected of trying to stage the march.
One man, who was detained outside of kiosk where tours are organised, swatted at officers as they grabbed him, but he was released after a woman who was with him told police that they had only been in the area to book a tour.
In Moscow, police said 6,000 people turned out under grey skies for Sunday's rally, which was given official permission for the first time to march through the heart of Moscow.
Many expressed hostility to migrants from Russia's own mainly Muslim southern regions and other parts of the former Soviet Union, saying Russia should tighten its visa requirements and bolster domestic restrictions on internal migration.
Moscow's march was mostly calm although some protesters made Nazi-style salutes and set off smoke bombs. Police said 25 were detained for wearing swastika arm-bands and trenchcoats.
Others had pre-revolutionary flags and some marched behind large icons, highlighting the church's role as a marker of national identity.
Many risked fines under a new law banning masks at rallies - covering their noses and mouths with scarves and nationalist flags, although not the black ski masks that characterised demonstrators at previous right wing "Russian Marches".
According to Russian news agency Itar-Tass, more than 50 people were detained in a nationalist rally in Kazan, and 40 were detained in Nizhny Novgorod. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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