Russian Elections: Thousands Defying Ban To Protest Putin Result

Russian Elections: At Least 300 Arrested Defying Ban To Protest Putin Result

Thousands of people took to the streets on Tuesday to protest against disputed parliamentary elections in Russia.

Allegations of corruption in Sunday's parliamentary election were rife, and demonstrators defied a ban on unapproved rallies in Moscow city centre to dispute the official results.

The police arrested at least 300 protesters in the biggest protest seen in Russia for years. Opposition leaders stood in front of a poster proclaiming, 'The election is a farce!".

The protestors came up against pro-Kremlin activists rallying to support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Putin's United Russia party won with just under 50% of the vote, a sharp drop in its support.

Foreign monitors claimed that cyber-attacks and harassment of officials had invalidated the result of the poll.

The protests have been happening since Sunday and show little sign of abating. People were held after similar protests in St Petersburg and also in Rostov-on-Don

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