Moscow:Renowned arthouse film director Alexander Sokurov has used an award speech to condemn the Russian police's rough treatment of young protesters at Sunday's opposition rallies.
"I think the government is making a big mistake by behaving so unceremoniously with young people, with school children and students," Sokurov said in a video of the ceremony published by the Meduza news site.
Sokurov -- whose films include "Russian Ark" and "Faust," which won the top prize at the Venice film festival in 2011 -- made the comments late Tuesday at the Nikas, Russia's most prestigious film award ceremony.
The ceremony was not shown live on state-controlled television but is set to air Friday.
He reacted after opposition leader Alexei Navalny organised protests across dozens of Russian cities on Sunday that for the first time saw large numbers of teenagers taking part, and rounded up in mass detentions.
At the unauthorised rally in Moscow, riot police dragged away young demonstrators from the central Pushkin Square after some shouted slogans or climbed up lampposts, but others were simply watching.
"They grabbed young women -- school girls -- by the arms and legs and dragged them off somewhere. It was rough, it was violent," Sokurov said as he received a special award for "honour and dignity".
The audience reacted with clapping and shouts of "Bravo!"
Sokurov said he had long waited for a new, politically active generation to appear, and "now they have appeared".
He urged the authorities to take note of the mood of children and young people rather than attacking them.
"You mustn't start a civil war among school children and students. You need to hear what they are saying. None of our politicians want to hear them," he said.
He also called for lawmakers to ban the arrest of women and girls at protests.
The director has also campaigned for the release of Ukrainian documentary director Oleg Sentsov, who has been jailed in Russia on terrorism charges, even publicly asking President Vladimir Putin to intervene.
Other figures in the arts have also reacted to the large numbers of young people at the protests.
Popular detective novelist Boris Akunin, whose real name is Grigory Chkhartishvili, wrote on Facebook: "Finally there is something alive, not dreary -- and young. And not just in Moscow."
Dmitry Bykov, a poet and biographer, wrote on his blog after attending the Moscow protest: "Protests are the business of the young, and that's why the bosses at all levels are so frightened."