MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian rights group says more than 1,000 people were detained at anti-government protests across the country on Sunday.

The OVD-Info group, which tracks police detentions and posts the names of the detainees on its website, said Monday that 1,018 people were detained, nearly half of them in St. Petersburg.

Russia's second-largest city saw arguably the most robust response with riot police charging at protesters with batons. Police arrested minors and elderly people.

The rallies, which had been called by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, were held in dozens of towns and cities to protest a government plan to increase the state pension age by five years.

Police were not immediately available for comment.