A series of anti-government protests against corruption and political stagnation led by the Opposition swept through Russian Federation on Monday, leading to the arrest of thousands of demonstrators including Opposition leader Alexei Navalny who has been sent to jail for 30 days.
Mr Navalny was detained on his way to a protest in central Moscow - one of more than 100 organised across the country.
Citing the police, TASS said Navalny was detained after calling to change the anti-Kremlin demonstration area from approved Sakharov Avenue to "unauthorized" Tverskaya Street in the capital of Moscow.
The demonstrations coincided with Russia Day, a national holiday, and triggered a fierce response from riot police who quickly swept in to make arrests.
Video posted on social media showed police in Moscow kicking protesters and striking them with batons.
A crackdown on peaceful protests across Russia in which hundreds of people were arrested and numerous others beaten by police earlier today demonstrates the Russian authorities' utter contempt for fundamental human rights, Amnesty International said.
But Navalny said late on Sunday that the authorities had pressured firms into refusing to supply him and his allies with sound and video equipment to make themselves heard and seen, a move he said was created to humiliate protesters.
Lenin Square, the city's main plaza, as well as other central locations, had already been booked for official celebrations of Russia Day, Monday's national holiday.
A spokeswoman for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says electricity has been cut at Navalny's offices in Moscow.
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He has emerged as Vladimir Putin's worst nightmare, and his refusal to just go away earned opposition leader Alexei Navalny yet another trip to the jailhouse Monday.
Since rising to prominence with his fiery speeches protesting Putin's third term in power in 2012, Navalny has cemented his place as Russia's top opposition leader.
Local media said roughly 3,000 people protested in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
In part of his on-going battle against the Kremlin, Navalny had earlier urged Russians to take to the streets Monday in anti-corruption protests. A protest in March against alleged corruption linked to the Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, drew an estimated 60,000 people to the streets in cities across Russian Federation.
That is exactly what the government was trying to head off when it banned the protest from Moscow's city center. "I want to puke when I hear the hypocritical government officials say that the youth should stay out of politics".
Most of the Moscow protesters appeared to be under 30, although there was a sizeable number of middle-aged people and couples with children.
On the eve of the event - which was authorised - Navalny announced the protest was changing location to Tverskaya because authorities blocked his efforts set up a stage and sound equipment.
Navalny's wife, Yulia, said he had been detained as he tried to leave their home. Navalny is struggling to get his name on the ballot so he can run against the president.
Ivan Sukhoruchenkov, 19, attended anyway with four university classmates to protest what he described as "stagnation of the political system". "I want to live in a modern democratic state and I want our taxes to be converted into roads, schools and hospitals, not into yachts, palaces and vineyards".
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