Russian police detains over 200 people at a journalist protest

Russian police detained over 200 people on Wednesday at a protest march in Moscow calling for punishment of police officers involved in the alleged framing of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, the OVD-Info monitoring group has said.

Among the detained is opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his press secretary Kira Yarmush tweeted. Several journalists have also been detained, Russian media reported.

Police abruptly dropped drugs charges a day earlier against journalist Ivan Golunov, a rare U-turn by the authorities in the face of anger from his supporters who said he was framed for his reporting.

But Golunov's supporters decided to go ahead with a protest on Wednesday, which had not been authorized by the authorities.

Golunov's detention last week led to a national outcry among Russian journalists and human rights activists, who described it as a case against media freedom. His colleagues at the Meduza news website had said they believed the evidence against him was fabricated as punishment for his investigations.

The crude way supporters said Golunov was set up and detained triggered an unusual show of media unity and an uncharacteristically swift reversal from authorities nervous about social unrest at a time when President Vladimir Putin already faces disquiet over living standards.

Under Russian law, the time and place of protests involving more than one person needs to be agreed with the authorities in advance. Organisers of Wednesday's event had demanded that Moscow city officials negotiate those terms with them during a live broadcast, something officials refused to do.