BREAKING NEWS

Russian police detain more than 70 over opposition protests - monitor

Russian police detained 72 people on Saturday over opposition protests staged in several cities, the OVD-Info protest monitor said on social media.

Tens of thousands of Muscovites staged Russia's biggest political protest for years on Saturday, rallying to demand free city elections in spite of a government crackdown.

The monitor said 55 people had been detained in St Petersburg, 10 in Moscow and seven in Roston-on-Don.