THOUSANDS of people took to the streets across Russia yesterday to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up the nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin.

More than 3800 people were detained by police, according to one monitoring group.

Despite a massive effort from Russian authorities to stem the tide of demonstrations, the protests engulfed many cities.

Navalny, 44, was arrested on January 17 on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.