Moscow police arrested some 500 people yesterday and seized weapons in a bid to prevent gatherings of Russian nationalists and Caucasians which have already sparked deadly violence.

“Around 500 people have been arrested in different neighbourhoods of Moscow for various offences,” police spokesman Viktor Biryukov to Russian news agencies.

He added that no major incidents were reported.

Some 500 right-wingers marched in a park near the Ostankino television headquarters shouting slogans such as “Russia for the Russians”, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.

Hundreds of riot police descended on the park, after internet messages called for a rally at Ostankino to protest at media coverage which had described the right-wingers as “fascists”.

There were no confrontations with police, the AFP photographer said.

“Nearly all the participants (in the march) were arrested,” Biryukov said, adding that most of them were minors.

Questioned about the number of teenagers taking part in the far-right rallies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Russian television that he thought it was a “disturbing sign”, that it was necessary to “work with the youth”, saying that they were not “a lost generation”.