You're reading: Anti-government rally quashed in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — Two prominent opponents of the Kremlin have been arrested at a downtown Moscow rally demanding a return to the popular election of mayors and regional governors from the current system of presidential nomination.

The high-profile human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov and Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the anti-Kremlin Left Front movement, were detained during Tuesday’s rally.

The longtime mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, was fired last month after President Dmitry Medvedev said he lost faith in him.

Medvedev’s predecessor, Vladimir Putin, abolished the direct election of the mayor and regional leaders under the pretext of fighting extremism.

Several hundred protesters gathered outside the mayor’s central office for the demonstration, which was quickly broken up by police.

Police officers push opposition activists away from the square during an anti-Kremlin rally in downtown Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010. (AP)

(AP)