Protesters, police clash in Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Club-swinging riot police clashed Sunday with opposition supporters as an anti-Kremlin protest dispersed in Russia's second-largest city, chasing small groups of demonstrators, beating some on the ground and hauling them into police buses.

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It was not immediately clear what sparked the violence after the rally, which city authorities had authorized and took place under a heavy police presence with at least one helicopter hovering above.

Although city authorities gave permission for the rally in a square on the edge of central St. Petersburg, they had banned plans for the demonstrators to march afterwards to the city government headquarters.