Police have detained five activists of an unsanctioned rally in downtown Moscow, the Moscow interior department said on Sunday.
"At 13:20 Moscow time, the police detained five people in the Alexander Garden who tried to hold an unauthorized rally," the interior department said.
The media has reported that the police detained several participants in the rally against the demolition of mature woodland near Moscow to make way for a new highway to St. Petersburg.
The planned multi-lane motorway has divided public opinion, and several journalists who reported on the Khimki forest campaign have been attacked and badly hurt.
The project was given the go-ahead in December, just three months after President Dmitry Medvedev put it on hold amid a huge public outcry. Ecologists say the new highway could easily be rerouted.
MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti)
