Russian activists detained as they gather for rally

The police action came a week before parliamentary elections and a day after authorities detained anti-government demonstrators, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov, after a Moscow rally.\nAbout 100 activists holding white flowers gathered near the Yabloko party headquarters and headed to a downtown site where they were to hold a rally, when some younger protesters unfurled banners of the banned National Bolshevik Party.\nPolice moved in, detaining young marchers first and then several dozen other protesters.\nWhen several hundred demonstrators reached the Dvortsovaya Square in front of the State Hermitage Museum, they found it tightly blocked by riot police. Police quickly rounded up another 50-70 protesters.\nThe violence occurred amid an election campaign in which some opposition political groups have been sidelined by new election rules or have complained of being hobbled by official harassment.\nOn Saturday, Russian authorities arrested Kasparov, one of President Vladimir Putin’s harshest critics, and sentenced him to five days in prison after he helped lead a protest.\nKasparov was charged with organizing an unsanctioned procession of at least 1,500 people against Putin, chanting anti-government slogans and resisting arrest, court documents said. His assistant said he was beaten during the demonstration.\nAt the hastily organized trial, two police testified that they had been ordered before the rally to arrest Kasparov.\nThe Kremlin has mounted a major campaign to produce a crushing victory for Putin’s United Russia party in December elections – perhaps to ensure that Putin can continue to rule Russia even after he steps down as president in May.\nThe constitution prevents him from serving three consecutive terms.