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Russian police detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Sunday, moments after he appeared at a rally to urge voters to boycott the presidential election in March.
The numbers who showed up at protests across Russia on Sunday were lower than previous demonstrations Navalny had staged, according to estimates from Reuters.
Video footage posted on social media showed Navalny appear on Moscow's main thoroughfare, Tverskaya Street, a few hundred meters from the Kremlin, to join several hundred supporters taking part in the protest.
Police had warned to use force to disperse protesters as the rally was illegal.
Screenshot of Russian opposition leader Alexy Navalny's post on Twitter.
After being taken in a police vehicle, Navalny managed to carry on with a social media live feed and tweeted his arrest: "I have been detained. This means nothing. Come to Tverskaya (Avenue)."
He was taken to a police station in central Moscow.
Police said in a statement he would be charged with violating laws on holding demonstrations.
The maximum penalty Navalny faces for the offence is 30 days in jail.
On Sunday, thousands of his supporters took to the streets across Russia.
Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny shout slogans during a rally for a boycott of a March 18 presidential election in Moscow, Russia,
January 28, 2018.
Protests have been held in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kurgan, Omsk, Magadan, Kemerovo Yakutsk, as well as Far East Vladivostok.
Earlier on Sunday, police raided Navalny's Moscow office using power tools, citing reports of a bomb threat.
Police shut down a TV studio at Navalny's office during the same raid which had been broadcasting online news bulletins, but another studio in a different location continued to operate.
(AFP & REUTERS)
