The Kremlin tried its best to surpass a protest rally called by anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny, but it went ahead and more than 800 protestors were arrested at demonstrations across the country on September 9.

The demonstrations were called to protest changes to the pension retirement ages that were hiked from 55 years for women and 60 for men to 63 and 65 respectively. The move is necessary as a third of the Russian budget is already eaten up by social payments, but it has also been hugely unpopular as it will materially worsen the situation of a large part of the population.

Navalny himself had been arrested a week earlier and the government ordered Google and Facebook to pull ads paid for by the Navalny campaign – an order the companies complied with – but this failed to stop the demonstrations. 

Navalny’s offices were raided the day before the protests and everyone there was briefly detained. Organisers, aware they could be arrested for organising an unsanctioned rally, took to tweeting messages like: “It’s my birthday on Sunday. Come and celebrate with me at 2pm on Pushkin Square.”

Although the numbers were not big, the authorities broke up rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg using the OMON riot police. Social media showed footage of police hitting protestors with batons in Moscow as their colleagues tried to wrench them out of the police’s grip. Several children were amongst those arrested.

About 2,500 people ignored police warnings to disperse and stood on Pushkin Square, a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, shouting: “Putin is a thief,” and “We are the power here! We won’t go.” The meeting was not sanctioned by the authorities but only turned violent when part of the crowd tried to march on the Kremlin buildings.

A small group of protestors remained in Pushkin Square overnight in protest. While the Moscow and St Petersburg demonstrations were well covered by the international media, two-thirds of the arrests were made in regional cities.

Putin’s popularity has plunged from over 80% into the 40s, but recovered somewhat after he appeared on TV last week and announced that he was softening the terms of the reform, raising the retirement age for women to just 63 rather than a mooted 65, and granting more exceptions, especially for women with lots of children.