Moscow police detained on Tuesday four activists who staged an unauthorized protest in the city center against the demolition of mature woodland near Moscow to make way for a new highway to St. Petersburg, a police spokesman said.

A group of environmentalists staged their protest on Moscow's central Slavyanskaya Square on Tuesday afternoon.

The four protesters were detained after failing to meet police demand for the participants in the rally to disperse.

Various political and environmental groups have long been protesting against the demolition of the Khimki Forest located to the northwest of Moscow.

The project, however, was given the go-ahead last December, just three months after President Dmitry Medvedev put it on hold to reassess the construction amid loud public outcry.