Writer and radical politician Eduard Limonov, leader of the unregistered Other Russia party, was held along with 25 others on Tuesday at a traditional protest rally at Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square.

Several dozens protesters managed to stay in the square long enough to spread some leaflets around and burn an effigy of President Vladimir Putin.

The City Hall earlier refused to sanction the rally, same as most protest events in the Strategy 31 campaign held at Triumfalnaya Square since May 2009. Opposition activists hold unsanctioned rallies at the venue on the last day of each month with 31 days in it to mark Article 31 of the Russian Constitution guaranteeing freedom of assembly.

The event was the first Strategy 31 protest after the passing of a new bill last month hiking maximal fines for unsanctioned rallies from 1,000 rubles to 300,000 rubles ($30 to $9,300). It remained immediately unclear what penalties the people detained on Tuesday faced over the incident.

About 150 activists also rallied in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, some 10 of them detained, local news website Zaks.ru said.