Hundreds of Russian opposition supporters turned out Saturday to protest against President Vladimir Putin's expected candidacy in elections set for 2018, with police detaining dozens of activists in the second-largest city of Saint Petersburg. Protests in several cities were called by the Open Russia movement founded by arch-Putin foe and former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

They were held under the slogan "We're sick of him" - referring to Putin. About 30 to 50 protesters were hauled away by riot police in a crackdown in Saint Petersburg after around 200 people gathered for an unauthorised demonstration, an AFP journalist witnessed. Open Russia put the figure of detentions at about 50 people, while OVD-Info, which monitors detentions of political activists, said more than 125 were detained. Police have not yet issued numbers.

"Putin is an usurper. He has to finally go. We're sick of him," said one of the protesters, 35-year-old Anton Danilov. "Everything is bad. Education, health - everything has been destroyed. I want changes," said Galina Abramova, 57. A similarly sized protest in Moscow remained peaceful as activists gathered at the offices of Putin's administration and handed in petitions against his expected candidacy in 2018. "I don't want Putin to stand in the next elections," said Anna Bazarova, a 16-year-old student queuing up to hand in her petition.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017