Police keep anti-Putin protesters on the run

The impromptu rally had moved to the Chistiye Prudy square after police broke up a demonstration by hundreds of opposition activists who had spent the night outside the presidential administration offices to protest Vladimir Putin's return as Russia's president.

Two prominent opposition leaders were detained by police in the early hours of Tuesday but later released. They then joined up with dozens of their supporters who had moved on to Chistiye Prudy, or Clean Ponds, where they vowed to continue the roving protest.

"If we are pushed away from here, we'll move to other squares," said Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of a leftist movement. "The objective is to have people on the squares every day who are struggling for freedom, for change. It is a very simple tactic, and I think it has a chance to bring a successful result."

The cat-and-mouse game between protesters and police began on Monday, the day of Putin's inauguration at a formal ceremony inside the Kremlin. Hundreds of activists tried to protest near Red Square and along the route Putin's motorcade took to the Kremlin, but they were turned back or detained by thousands of riot police.

Police said they made about 300 detentions on Monday, but in some cases the same people were detained and then released more than once.