Thousands demand Putin quit as birthday protests turn violent

SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian police violently broke up a rally in Saint Petersburg as thousands took to the streets across Russia Saturday on President Vladimir Putin´s 65th birthday, urging him to quit power.

Heeding the call of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny to demand competitive elections, around 3,000 people rallied in Russia´s second city and Putin´s hometown while more than a thousand demonstrated in the centre of Moscow, AFP reporters said. Protests were held in 80 cities around the country.

More than 270 people were detained nationwide, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors politically motivated arrests.

But while police in rainy Moscow showed restraint, allowing the crowd of mostly young protesters to march in the city centre in an apparent effort to avoid clashes on Putin´s birthday, the rally in Saint Petersburg ended in violence.

Activists chanted "Shame" as helmeted police threw some protesters into police vans, injuring several demonstrators and forcing some to run for cover, an AFP reporter and witnesses said.

Photographs from the scene showed a woman clutching her bleeding head after being detained by officers at the unauthorised protest.

Amnesty International called on Russian authorities to immediately release the protesters and investigate instances of violence.

"The Kremlin´s intent is clear - to choke the life out of the protest movement," said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty´s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia.

"Peaceful protest is a right, and many people in Russia want to exercise that right. The Russian authorities must immediately begin to respect and protect the rights of these protesters, pure and simple," he said.

The protests -- called by Navalny after he was sent to jail for 20 days this week -- were markedly smaller than the rallies he mustered in March and June when tens of thousands took to the streets against corruption.

The number of people detained across Russia on Saturday is lower than the arrests during the rallies called by Navalny in March and June. Police detained more than 1,000 people in Moscow alone during the March demonstration.

In Moscow on Saturday, the crowd chanted "Happy birthday" and "Russia without Putin" and many held copies of the constitution and wave flags amid honks of support from passing cars.

Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear and with dogs, were deployed to prevent people from going to Red Square.