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Several thousand people attended a rally organized in Moscow by the Communist Party and other leftist groups, authorized by the city authorities.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov called for the cancellation of the proposed changes, arguing that the government should redistribute resources to avoid raising the retirement age.
"They continue to touch your pockets," he told the demonstrators, waving red flags.
The government's plan to reduce the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women has irritated a wide range of Russians from all political factions.
Older Russians are afraid of not living long enough to reap significant benefits, while younger generations are concerned that keeping workers in the labor market longer will limit their employment opportunities.
The proposal also undermined the popularity of President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitry Orlov, who came to Moscow from his home town of Kostroma to join the rally, denounced the Russian government's decision as a "theft".
"Our country must not have money for its people, those who spend their entire lives working and paying pension deductions," he said.
Similar protests also took place on Saturday in many cities across Russia 's 11 time zones, most of them sanctioned by the authorities.
Several hundred protesters rallied against the rising age of retirement in Sevastopol in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed to Ukraine in 2014.
"It's a very serious problem for me because it affects my life, my children, my parents who have not yet retired," said Olga Konitskaya, a 30-year-old female protester in Sevastopol.
The demonstrations were held in calm, unlike a wave of unauthorized demonstrations organized earlier this month by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which led to the arrest of more than 1,000 people in all Russia.
Navalny, the anti-corruption activist who is Putin's most visible enemy, called for demonstrations against rising retirement age before being sentenced to 30 days in jail for organizing a rally in January on an other subject.
He should be released on Monday.
Putin responded to the protests by offering concessions, but argued that the rise in age is necessary because the increase in life expectancy in Russia could deplete the country's pension resources if the age of eligibility remains the same.
The Kremlin-controlled lower house, the State Duma, has only given preliminary approval to the draft law on pension amendments and has not yet made a second decisive reading.
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