The Moscow police detained about 50 protesters who were wandering in the city center on Saturday trying to encamp after the law enforcement agencies dismantled an opposition camp near the Barrikadnaya subway station on Friday evening.
Riot police dismantled the camp in the Russian capital’s fashionable Chistye Prudy neighborhood early on Wednesday morning, briefly detaining over 20 people. Activists decided to continue with the protests and moved to the Kudrinskaya Square near the Barrikadnaya station, next to a landmark neo-classical Stalin-era tower and a short walk from the U.S. embassy.
About 14 people were arrested at the Bolshaya Nikitinskaya Street on Saturday morning where the protesters tried to encamp after moving from the Kudrinskaya Square, the Ekho Moskvy radio station said.
After that protesters moved to the Arbat Street in the Moscow downtown but their attempt to make a new camp near a monument of famous Soviet songwriter and singer Bulat Okudzhava failed again.
“Nearly 10 people were detained [in the Arbat street] for violation of public order,” Moscow police spokesperson told RIA Novosti on mid-Saturday.
The demonstrators planned to meet at the Kudrinskaya square again on Saturday evening but the police blocked it, opposition activist Alyona Popova wrote in her Twitter page.
The Chistye Prudy camp was attended by up to 3,000 protesters at its peak and attracted activists of a variety of political persuasions, from anarchists to nationalists, all apparently united only by their opposition to President Vladimir Putin.
Citizens are discontented with protesters' wanderings as demonstrators are making noise and littering, Moscow City Duma Deputy Kirill Schitov wrote in his Twitter page after talking with residents of city districts.
