Hundreds arrested in Russian protests over pension age hike

Thousands of Russians marched in protest at planned increases in the pension age yesterday.

More than 800 people were said by human rights groups to have been arrested at protests in more than 80 towns and cities across Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny had planned to march at the head of a demonstration in Moscow. But he was jailed last month after being convicted of breaking protest laws.

The protests, some of which were broken up by police officers who beat participants with batons and dragged them away, were a challenge to the authorities, who were hoping for a high turnout at regional elections which were being held yesterday.

The proposed pension changes, which are going through parliament, have shaved around 15 percentage points off President Vladimir Putin's popularity rating.

They are the most unpopular government measure since a 2005 move to scrap Soviet-era benefits, which also led to nationwide protests.

Mr Navalny, who was barred from state TV and prevented from running against Mr Putin for president earlier this year, hopes to tap into public anger over the reform. He said his arrest was designed to derail the protests against the pensions changes.

OVD-Info, a rights organisation that monitors detentions, said 839 of Mr Navalny's supporters had been detained during the protests, including some of his closest aides.

In Moscow, about 2,000 people gathered in the central Pushkin Square, in defiance of the authorities' refusal of a permit for their protest.

They chanted slogans including "Russia will be free" and "Putin is a thief."

Despite the nature of the protest, many of those who took part were young.