Detained for Standing

Into the wagon. Police forcing a man into a police bus at the Aug. 31 rally near Triumfalnaya Ploshchad. Some were taken away after pushing at police cordons. Others were detained for yelling, holding paper signs or standing near the square.

Police officers surrounding a young man. They had just plucked him from the crowd near the square, which was blocked by fencing and cordons.

The same young man a few minutes later. Policemen dragging him away from the crowd.

Officers forming a human barrier. A sheet-metal fence already surrounded the square: City Hall had announced its closure for construction Aug. 16, just hours after telling the opposition that it couldn't rally Aug. 31 because the square had been reserved for a blood drive.

A pair of police officers detaining a man near the square while other officers with video cameras, atop the bus, film the protest.

Protesters holding up signs printed with Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly. The opposition has tried to hold "31" rallies on Triumfalnaya on every 31st on the calendar since July 2009.

Ruddy policemen forming a ring around a white-haired protester.

Grigory, a Russian Orthodox monk from Novosibirsk, showing off his posters. "I came to support the protesters because Putin and Medvedev are destroying the country while Patriarch Kirill condones it," he told a Moscow Times reporter.

Grigory was detained by police, a Moscow Times photographer reported. An officer taking the monk by the arm.

Some big names showed up at the attempted protest. The public relations chief for the Moscow police, left, in tie, standing next to the chief editor of liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy.

A protester holding a "31" sign over the heads of officers.

Outgoing.

Professional photographers converging on police. There was no shortage of media coverage for the protesters.

Nor was there a shortage of police. Media estimates put the number of police officers at roughly 1,000.

A detained protester making the peace sign from inside a police bus.

The reason they came. Two detainees placing the words of Article 31 against the police bus window.