Riot police mass in Moscow to stop far-right protest

MOSCOW, Nov 4 (Reuters) Riot police detained dozens of protesters in central Moscow today as they tried to stop Russian nationalists from holding a banned march against immigrants.

Around 2,000 far-right demonstrators gathered at a Moscow park for an officially sanctioned meeting on Russia's National Unity Day holiday under the gaze of police in full body armour.

The nationalists waved old Tsarist flags and chanted ''Glory to Russia'' as a police helicopter buzzed overhead. Similar protests were held in cities across the country, from Vladivostok on the Pacific coast to St Petersburg in the west.

Police bundled dozens of the Moscow demonstrators into vans and drove them away, alleging provocative behaviour, Reuters reporters at the scene said.

A police spokesman denied that any arrests had been made but Russian news agency Interfax reported 37 detentions.

The far right had originally planned big marches through the centre of major Russian cities to mark the Nov. 4 holiday.

But Moscow and St Petersburg authorities banned any marches to prevent a repeat of last year's events, when neo-Nazis paraded through central Moscow chanting racist slogans.

They allowed only small groups of nationalists to gather in fixed locations away from the city centre.

''I am for Russia and I want Russian people to walk with their head held high,'' Moscow demonstrator Olga Voitenko, 49, told Reuters.

She said Russians had their rights taken away from them. Other protesters complained a wave of illegal immigrants, mainly from the southern Caucasus region and from Central Asia, were taking jobs away from Russians and corrupting Russian society.

RACIST VIOLENCE Non-governmental organisations have long reported that racist violence is growing in Russia, fuelled by poverty and joblessness in poorer regions and resentment at the loss of Russian power after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Anti-Semitic slogans were also evident at the Moscow rally, including one poster of a woman holding a dead child next to a Jewish man clutching another child's head. ''Russian, help your fellow Russians or you will be next,'' it said.

In St Petersburg, police used tear gas to break up a fight between nationalists and left-wing demonstrators. About 20 people were arrested but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

In Russia's eastern port of Vladivostok, a group of far-right extremists raised their arms in Nazi salutes as they posed for photographs at a parade ground. Around 200 protesters marched through the city, waving banners saying ''No Integration, Just Deportation''.

Their posters included an armoured Russian mediaeval knight swinging a large sword above the legend ''Russian Club''.

Skinheads also marched in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk in central Russia waving banners. Most covered their faces to prevent identification.

The Kremlin introduced the National Unity Day holiday last year to replace the traditional Nov. 7 anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. It marks the 1612 defeat of Polish troops by Russian irregulars.

REUTERS SSC VV1723