"We’re fed up!" Russian rallies against Putin urge him not to contest again

Russians, under the slogan "I'm fed up," urged Vladimir Putin not to run for a fourth term. Several hundred people rallied in a park then moved to the nearby presidential administration building to present letters telling Putin to stand down from running in 2018.

They rallied in cities across Russia on Saturday and dozens have been arrested in St. Petersburg and elsewhere.

The centerpiece rally in Moscow went peacefully, despite being unsanctioned by authorities.

However, in St. Petersburg, Associated Press journalists saw dozens arrested. The OVD-Info group that monitors political repression relayed reports of more arrests in several cities, including 20 in Tula and 14 in Kemerovo.

Putin has dominated Russian politics since becoming president on New Year's Eve 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Even when he stepped away from the Kremlin to become prime minister in 2008-2012 because of term limits, he remained effectively Russia's leader.

He has not announced whether he will run for president again next year or not.

On March 26, there were nationwide protests which rattle the Kremlin because of the demonstrations' unusual size and reach.

The large number of young people in those protests contests the belief that the generation that grew up under Putin's heavy hand had become apolitical or disheartened.



Although Saturday's demonstrations were much smaller, but it indicated that marginalized opposition forces will continue to push.