Police detained about 50 people in central Moscow on Tuesday after calls by a nationalist movement for a rally.
The previously unknown December 11 Movement, named in apparent reference to last year's mass rioting near Red Square by nationalists and football hooligans, earlier called for a "Russia for Russians" rally at the central Manezh Square at 7 pm Moscow time [16:00 GMT]. Police have cordoned off the entire square.
One of those detained was the leader of the outlawed Slavic Union nationalist organization, Dmitry Dyomushkin, a police source said.
The Russian capital saw its biggest public disturbances for almost a decade when a 5,000-strong crowd of nationalists and football hooligans clashed with police at Manezh Square on December 11. The crowd was protesting the police response to the death of a football fan in a brawl with internal migrants.
Further disturbances followed three days later as ethnic Russians and migrants from the Caucasus region gathered for a confrontation. Race hate riots also occurred in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities.
MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti)
