Many people in the region make their living from importing cars. Police, who brutally dispersed a similar protest in Vladivostok last month, did not intervene.
In Moscow, about 1,000 Communist demonstrators rallied on a central square. Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov said the government must abandon Western economic models and adopt broad nationalization. Protesters held signs reading: "Putin's plan - Peril to Russia!"
Several hundred police officers lined the square but did not try to break up the protest, which had been sanctioned by authorities. But Eduard Limonov, who leads the banned National Bolshevik Party and who is one of the Kremlin's most vocal critics, was detained by police before he could make a statement.
Limonov was among about 10 party activists who were held after attempting to join in the Communist Party march.
Across town, demonstrators from former chess champion Garry Kasparov's United Civil Front opposition group caught police by surprise. Protesters shouting "Russia without Putin!" gathered at a subway station - then took a train across the city, leaving police behind.
Police detained several protesters, and activists from the Young Russia pro-Kremlin youth group brutally beat others, but several dozen demonstrators marched downtown, shouting "Down with the government!" and "Russia without Putin!"
"We are demanding civil freedoms and pushing for the government's resignation," said Valery Nadezhdin, one of the protesters. Kasparov did not take part in the march.
A small group of activists from the opposition youth group "We" protested near the headquarters of the Russian government with blank posters and their lips sealed with tape. The protest was peaceful but police detained all the participants.
Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said a total of 41 people were detained briefly yesterday for participating in unsanctioned rallies.
Authorities sought to counter the protests with a rally of the main pro-Kremlin United Russia party next to the Kremlin - an area off limits to other demonstrations. Army soldiers served tea and cookies to some 9,000 participants who gathered on a crisp sunny day with temperatures about minus 7 degrees.
