Police break up rally against Putin victory

MOSCOW -- Riot police quickly and forcefully broke up an opposition attempt to occupy a downtown square Monday in a bid to challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's victory in Russia's presidential election, arresting dozens of participants, including some prominent opposition leaders.

The harsh police action, which resulted in dozens of arrests, could fuel the opposition anger and trigger bigger protests against Putin's rule, but it also underlined massive challenges faced by the opposition.

Putin seems to command the unswerving loyalty of police and the military, whose wages have recently been doubled. The urban middle-class forming the core of the protests could be more reluctant to attend future protests after seeing tough police response.

The police action followed a rally in downtown Moscow that drew about 20,000 protesters angry over a campaign slanted in Putin's favor and reports of widespread violations in Sunday's ballot.

The big rally went on peacefully, but hundreds of police in full riot gear violently dispersed several hundred protesters who had vowed to stay on the iconic Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow until Putin steps down. Police moved quickly to stamp out the protests, apparently fearing they could act as a catalyst for bigger demonstrations.

Charismatic protest leader Alexei Navalny, who sought to electrify the crowd with a passionate call of "We are the power!" was among those arrested along with opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov. Scores were put in police vans parked around the square.

Yesterday's attempt to occupy the square marked a change of tactics for the opposition that is looking for ways to maintain the momentum of the protests. During the first massive protests in December, Navalny was the first to propose occupying streets to raise the heat on Putin.

"We are calling for peaceful action of civil disobedience, and we shall not leave," he shouted to the crowd during Monday's protest. "We know the truth about this government. This is the authority of crooks and thieves."

Putin won more than 63 percent of the vote, according to the nearly complete official returns, but the opposition says the election was marred by massive fraud.

International election monitors pointed at the lack of real competition and said the vote count "was assessed negatively" in almost a third of polling stations observers visited.

"There was no real competition, and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt," said Tonino Picula, the head of the short-term Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe observer mission. "Broadcast media was clearly biased in favor of one candidate and did not provide fair coverage of the other candidates."