Police have cracked down on Other Russia marches this year, hitting protesters with batons and detaining hundreds, but they recently adopted a softer approach. On Saturday they kept their distance until a squad of riot police blocked the march.

Plain clothes police roughly pushed and pulled people into vans and police armed with batons grabbed protest leaders. Kasparov, a leader of Other Russia, was charged with public order offences and police said they would hold him for five days
"In a free country you can express your opinions but in Russia you can't," said Alexei Alexeyev, a 26-year-old protester. "The police are very aggressive and I fear them," he said, explaining that police had detained him for 12 hours at an opposition protest in March.
"Censorship is all around us and our freedoms have decreased, she said. Putin's way will not mean a better future."

(AP Photo/Artyom Korotayev)
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