Police locked down the centre of Moscow and other cities on Sunday as protesters took to the streets across Russia demanding the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Hundreds of police in riot gear lined the streets of the capital from the early hours of Sunday morning, restricting movements of pedestrians around the centre.
In a rare move, Moscow city authorities also closed several central Metro stations and diverted overground transport.
Opposition supporters had called for a second weekend of demonstrations after tens of thousands protested across the country last Saturday over the arrest of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent.
With protests beginning in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, independent monitor OVD-Info said at least 650 people had so far been detained across the country. It reported more than 4,000 detentions during last weekend’s protests.
Navalny was detained at Moscow airport in mid-January after flying back to Russia from Germany where he was…