Police in Moscow have broken up an opposition demonstration held as part of a so-called nationwide “Day of Anger”.

Hundreds of officers blocked off Pushkin Square and detained dozens of people.

70 people are said to have been arrested.

The protests around the country mixed local issues with anger at the federal government’s handling of the economic crisis.

Around a thousand gathered in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, angry at a Kremlin decision to re-open a factory that locals say pollutes nearby Lake Baikal.

At least 15 hundred people turned out in the Pacific port of Vladivostock, where there were calls for the government to be dismissed.

Local elections last week showed support for Putin’s United Russia party has waned since the start of the economic crisis, which brought a sudden end to ten years of growth.

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