The activists had earlier asked Moscow authorities for permission to hold a rally, but were refused.
On Thursday, they decided to gather despite the ban in front of the Moscow Interior Affairs Department building to demand the release of previously arrested party activists.
In mid-December of last year, activists from the party, which is led by radical writer Eduard Limonov, in coalition with two other opposition groups - chess-champion-turned-politician Garry Kasparov's liberal United Civil Front and the Russian People's Democratic Union, led by former pro-market prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov - gathered for a rally in downtown Moscow accusing President Vladimir Putin and his associates of infringing on liberal freedoms and muzzling the opposition.
Police detained several dozen participants when they defied orders to stop waving flags and shouting slogans once they left the venue. Most of the detained opposition activists were said then to be members of the National Bolshevik Party.