Russia protest

Members of a Russian nationalist group burn a flare in downtown Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square during the mass demonstration. Protests also took place in St. Petersburg and elsewhere across Russia amid allegations by both domestic critics and international observers that recent elections for the lower house of parliament were rigged. Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, lost its super-majority but still won more than half the seats.  (Harry Engels/Getty Images)

Protesters shout slogans during a rally in downtown St. Petersburg. More than ten thousand people protested in the Russian city against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his party, which won the largest share of a parliamentary election that some observers said was rigged.  (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)

Protesters rally in downtown Moscow. The words under the picture of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin read: We part ways.   (Sergei L. Loiko/Los Angeles Times)

Demonstrators in Moscow march across the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge during a mass rally to protest alleged vote rigging in Russia’s parliamentary election. Red Square, blocked off by police trucks, is in the background. Russians angered by allegedly fraudulent parliamentary elections and the country’s ruling party took part in protests Saturday in cities from the Pacific Coast to the southwest, eight time zones away, a striking show of indignation that poses a challenge to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin‘s hold on power. Protests took place in at least 15 cities, most them attracting crowds of several hundred to a thousand.  (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Riot police detain a participant at the opposition rally in St.Petersburg. Thousands of protesters who say last weekend’s Russian parliamentary elections were stolen by the ruling United Russia party demonstrated Saturday in a nationwide protest, calling for a rerun of the poll.  (Anatoly Maltsev/ EPA)