Over 1,000 people have been arrested for holding protests on Wednesday in Russia against President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation of civilians to fight in Ukraine.

The organization monitoring the demonstrations says it has information about arrests in at least 23 cities, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s first mobilization since World War II, according to OVD-Info monitoring group, AFP and Agerpres read.

Protesters were chanting „no mobilisation!”

„I came to say that I am against war and mobilisation,” Oksana Sidorenko, a student, told AFP.

AFP journalists witnessed at least 50 arrests in Moscow, and in Saint Petersburg police removed a bus full of demonstrators from the center.

In St. Petersburg, the law enforcement forces brought protesters to their knees in front of the Russian Museum. The protesters tried to run away from the police and jumped over the fence, but the security forces caught up with them, according to NEXTA.

Unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russia’s anti-protest laws.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday a partial military mobilization in Russia to fulfill the objectives of the „special military operation” in Ukraine, during a televised address to the nation, according to TASS, Reuters and AFP, Agerpres read.