MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – About 6,000 ultra nationalists carrying banners and flags gathered for their authorized march in downtown Moscow, a police spokesman said on Sunday.
The march is being held as Russia is celebrating National Unity Day, which was introduced by the Kremlin in 2005 to replace the communist holiday of November 7 celebrating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. November 4 now marks the liberation of Russia from Polish invaders in 1612.
The nationalists marched along the Yakimanka and Krymskaya embankments to gather for a rally in front of Moscow’s Central Artist House. During the march, the demonstrators fired several flares into the air at a time when a police helicopter was flying over the area.
In the meantime, Moscow police have detained 25 men wearing black field overcoats with Nazi swastika in the center of the city.
“The Moscow police have detained 25 people in black field overcoats with the swastika near the Tretyakovskaya metro station who were chanting slogans,” a police spokesman said.