MOSCOW, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A march by thousands of Russian ultra-nationalists was largely peaceful, although Moscow police said they arrested 25 protesters wearing Nazi swastikas.
Sunday's rally in central Moscow marked National Unity Day and drew a crowd organizers estimated at 6,000.
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said there were plenty of banners and flags, and some marchers fired flares into the air as police helicopters flew over to monitor the parade.
Police detained a group of men dressed in black coats bearing swastikas at a subway station. The 25 suspects were reportedly chanting slogans and were hauled off to face administrative charges, a spokesman said.
The ultra-nationalist march was countered by a rally in Pushkin Square by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, which urged a more democratic government but without political turmoil.
National Unity Day was created in 2005 to replace the annual Nov. 7 commemoration of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union.
