Protesters turn out across Russia

MOSCOW, March 20 (UPI) -- Protesters called for the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in rallies held Saturday in cities from the Pacific to the Baltic.

The "Day of Wrath" was the biggest anti-Putin demonstration since he became president in August 1999, The Guardian reported.

Most individual rallies were small -- 1,000 people in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, and 5,000 in Kaliningrad in the Russian enclave wedged between Poland and the Baltic states. But they occurred in spite of government efforts to stop them, including shutting down a Web site promoting the protests.

In Moscow, police said about 70 people were arrested at one rally that was attended by only 200, RT, the Russian state television broadcaster, reported. Members of a car-owners group blocked traffic Saturday afternoon on one of the Moscow ring roads to protest high road taxes and corruption in the traffic police.

The demonstration in Kaliningrad, in driving rain, was less than half the size of one in January, the Guardian said. Those who turned out demanded free elections, jobs and an end to inflation and called on Putin to step down.

"We want the government to start treating us like people, not like slaves," Kirill, a student who did not want his name used, told the newspaper.