MOSCOW, 07 March 2022, (TON): Thousands of people have been detained at anti-war protests across Russia, rights groups and Russian authorities say.

Some 1,700 people were detained in Moscow alone, the RIA news agency reported, citing the interior ministry. The OVD-Info rights group says detainments took place in 49 cities.

Although protests have become increasingly restricted in recent years, rallies have taken place across Russia since the Ukraine invasion.

More than 10,000 people have been detained since the war began 11 days ago, OVD-Info says.

Reuters news agency from Tbilisi in Georgia told “the screws are being fully tightened – essentially we are witnessing military censorship, Maria Kuznetsova, OVD-Info’s spokeswoman.”

“We are seeing rather big protests today even in Siberian cities, where we only rarely saw such numbers of arrests.”

Earlier this week, government critic Alexei Navalny who is in jail on fraud charges called for daily demonstrations against the invasion, saying Russia should not be a “nation of frightened cowards.”