At least 745 people arrested during anti-Putin protests in Russia

The opposition to Vladimir V. Putin's call-up that could sweep 300,000 civilians into military service continued to show their disapproval across Russia on Saturday, with at least 745 people being arrested, according to OVD-Info, a human rights watchdog that monitors police activity.

Members of the Vesna, or Spring movement, who called for the protests on Saturday under the slogan No Mobilization to the Grave, had their homes searched in St. Petersburg, as did several activists and journalists working for independent news media outlets. Such protests are criminalized in Russia, and video on social media networks depicted riot police beating demonstrators in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Khabarovsk and other large cities, including Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk and other large cities.

In Novosibirsk riot police went into a group of protesters holding hands in a circle and singing an antiwar song that was popularized in the 1960s as May There Always Be Sunshine. There were about 70 people held in custody. A man stopped traffic in Tomsk as he screamed, A peaceful life for our children and Don t watch television, a reference to the stream of propaganda on state networks. He was arrested within a matter of minutes.