Police Detain 7 People In Unsanctioned Moscow Demo

Unsanctioned rallies have become increasingly common this year in Russia.

Police in Russia detained seven people in Moscow on Sunday for holding a small, unsanctioned protest, a police spokesman said.

News agencies quoted one of the organisers of Sunday's demonstration as saying there were about 15 people on the march that protested against the murder last month of a human rights lawyer and a journalist.

Unsanctioned rallies have become increasingly common this year in Russia. They are mainly anti-government and directed at the authorities' human rights record and their handling of a global financial crisis.

Although President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are still popular, opposition groups say momentum for anti-government demonstrations is growing and the authorities have ordered the police to beef up crowd control training and equipment.

Last weekend thousands demonstrated across Russia in both sanctioned and unsanctioned protests against the government's economic policies. Local authorities also organised counter demonstrations in support of government policies.