Moscow police on Sunday detained at least 376 people who took part in an unsanctioned rally two days before the centenary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Vyacheslav Maltsev, an exiled opposition politician from Saratov and ultra-nationalist videoblogger, called on his supporters to take to the streets on Nov. 5 for a long-promised anti-government revolt.
An ardent supporter of revolution in Russia, Maltsev has long predicted that a general uprising against the current government would occur ahead of the 100th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution, on Nov. 7.
He fled to France in June after being arrested and charged with extremism and his opposition movement based on his popular YouTube channel Artpodgotovka (Russian for “artillery preparation”) was ruled an extremist organization last month.
Police officials said they had arrested dozens of demonstrators carrying non-lethal weapons, sharp objects, flammable liquids and wearing camouflage fatigues with the insignia of Maltsev’s banned Artpodgotovka opposition movement.
The detainees were charged with resisting authorities, violating public order and breaking immigration laws, the Interior Ministry said.
According to the police monitoring group OVD-Info, at least 448 people were detained in cities across Russia on Sunday. More than 100 detainees were held overnight in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don prisons.
The detentions came a day after two dozen people were arrested after an annual nationalist march in central Moscow.
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