Russian police remove anti-Putin protesters

Russian riot police break up an "Occupy"-style protest targetting President Vladimir Putin, forcing dozens out of a central Moscow park.

At least 15 people were detained.

The dispersal was the last step in a government crackdown on protests against Putin's return to the presidency.

Police arrived at the site early Wednesday morning, telling the 50 demonstrators who had spent the night there to leave.

The anti-Putin protest began on May 9. Since then crowd numbers have fluctuated from between a few dozen to as many as 2,000.

(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ILYA YASHIN, SAYING:

"This illegal clearing of the camp was obviously motivated by Kremlin politicians. People were torn out of sleeping bags, were shoved into police vans. Now they're at the local police station and they're not letting lawyers in."

Some in Russia want change, fearing that the continuation of Putin's rule could bring political and economic stagnation.

"Our demands are as follows - to let people stay here, because this is a peaceful form of protest. Our goals are very simple - freeing political prisoners and holding wide political reforms, and new elections. It's absolutely true - our demands haven't changed since December."

Some of the protesters moved to another central Moscow square after the evictions.

Sarah Sheffer, Reuters