Thousands Arrested in Protest against Putin

NBC News (MOSCOW) — Riot police moved in at a rally in Moscow Saturday afternoon as thousands of people took to the streets to voice their discontent with the government of Vladimir Putin, just days before his inauguration for a fourth presidential term.

Thousands took part in the rally in Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square, where some protesters were detained by police and thrown into buses as the crowd chanted anti-Putin slogans.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist who was barred from running in the 2018 presidential election, was detained within minutes of showing up to the rally and dragged away by police. Navalny called on people demonstrate in nearly a hundred cities across the world's largest country to convey to Putin, who won a landslide victory in the March presidential election with over 76 percent of the vote, that he won't be allowed to rule "as a czar."

At the rally in Moscow, people in the crowd were seen holding up banners saying "I've had enough" and "I am against corruption," chanting "Putin is a thief" and "away with the czar."

Many also waved Russian flags as police stood by and helicopters hovered above.

"I want to live free in Russia where everyone will be equal," high school student Daniel, 17, who didn't want to reveal his last name, told NBC News when asked why he joined the protests.

As the crowd swelled, police swept in. Some protesters told Russia's TV Rain the detentions seemed random and heavy-handed. Protesters were shouting "shame on you" at police officers as people were being taken away.

Artist Ekaterina, 36, who also didn't want her last name shared, said she hoped the government would hear them.

"There is a big chunk of people who don't agree with...