MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Moscow have detained a correspondent from Ekho Moskvy radio station during a protest on Triumfalnaya Square in downtown Moscow, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Friday.
Police earlier cordoned off downtown Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square shortly before two rallies began at 6 p.m. Moscow time (15:00 GMT), a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Friday.
One rally, to be held by rights advocates, is sanctioned by authorities, the other, led by opposition leader Eduard Limonov, is not.
A police official told RIA Novosti that the Ekho Moskvy correspondent, Vladimir Romensky, was detained "by mistake" and his release from police custody is currently underway.
Dozens of protestors have been detained during the unsanctioned and sanctioned meetings.
The opposition leader of The Other Russia, Eduard Limonov, told Ekho Moskvy radio station earlier on Friday that he had been detained at the entrance to his house when leaving ahead of a protest scheduled on Triumfalnaya Square.
Limonov, who was preparing to join an unsanctioned protest on the square, said he has been taken to a local police station for a "prophylactic discussion."
The sanctioned protest is led by human rights leader Lyudmila Alekseyeva.
For more than a year, protesters have attempted to hold rallies on Trimfalnaya Square on the last day of every month that has 31 days to demand that the government respect Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.
Requests to hold the rallies were invariably turned down by former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who was dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev in September.
Current Mayor Sergei Sobyanin sanctioned October's rally, but the event was marred by an inner dispute between the protest's kingpins over the number of participants.
