Alexei Navalny among 1,000 arrested as thousands in Russia demonstrate against Vladimir Putin inauguration
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Ronke Phillips
Prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny was one of 1,000 people arrested as a wave of mass protests against President Vladimir Putin swept across Russia.
Video showed officers carrying a struggling Mr Navalny, who has been arrested several times before, in Moscow's Pushkin Square on Saturday.
Thousands of demonstrators had gathered in central Moscow at a protest organised by anti-corruption campaigner Mr Navalny, to denounce President Putin's upcoming inauguration for a fourth term.
Other rallies were scheduled across the country as part of the unauthorised protest, led under the slogan "He is not our czar".
A group which monitors political repression in Russia said the largest number of arrests was in Chelyabinsk, a city some 1,100 miles (1,780km) east of Moscow where 97 people were detained.
The OVD-Info group continued that in a protest in Yakutsk in the far north-east of the country, 75 people were detained but all have since been released.
In Moscow, around 50 people were said to have been arrested, among them, Mr Navalny.
Officers in riot gear were seen wading into the crowd in Moscow, grabbing some demonstrators and leading them way.
There was, however, no immediate move to disperse the gathering.
A helicopter hovered overhead to monitor the crowd.
News reports and social media postings said that protests had attracted thousands of people in at least 10 cities in the Far East and Siberia.
Putin will be inaugurated Monday for a six-year term.