All detainees for an attempt to hold an unsanctioned opposition protest on Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow, were released on Saturday evening, before the New Year started, a spokesman of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
Police detained about 60 people on Saturday for attempting to hold an unsanctioned rally, they detained anyone who was carrying a placard or giving an interview to media correspondents, of whom several dozen were present.
“The detainees from Triumfalnaya Square have been freed to go home after all proceedings,” the spokesman said, adding that it was before the New Year.
Firebrand writer and activist Eduard Limonov, the leader of the Other Russia movement, was one of those detained on Saturday. At the Strategy-31 protest one year ago, Limonov was arrested and spent 14 days in jail for hooliganism.
Triumfalnaya is the regular venue for unsanctioned Strategy-31 protests held on the 31st day of a month to affirm Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.
Sixty-eight people were detained at last year's protest in Moscow, including opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin.
This year Nemtsov attended the Strategy-31 protest in Nizhny Novgorod. He was not detained.
Police in St. Petersburg detained about 10 people at a Strategy-31 protest held at Gostiny Dvor.
