SAINT PETERSBURG (Russia) - HUNDREDS of people protested in Russian cities on Saturday in demonstrations against the wave of job losses sweeping the country in the wake of the economic crisis.

Around 500 people turned out for a demonstration in Russia's northern city of Saint Petersburg, where activists have also been angered by an attack last week on a local trade union leader, an AFP correspondent and police said.

A smaller number of around 100 people turned out in Moscow for a similar protest, an AFP correspondent reported while several dozen workers protested in the car-producing city of Togliatti.

The Saint Petersburg protestors chanted slogans like 'workers should not pay for the crisis' and 'stop pursuing labour activists' at their demonstration by a statue of Lenin outside the former capital's Finland station.

'Our salvation is in our hands. We need to unify our forces,' said Mr Alexander Vinogradov, the leader of the protest movement.

Last weekend the trade union leader of General Motors' new Saint Petersburg factory, Mr Yevgeny Ivanov, said he had been attacked by two unidentified assailants as he left his appartment.

The Russian economic crisis has hit the Russian auto industry hard with several Russian and Western firms closing their production lines for a month over the New Year period to cope with the slowdown in demand.

Officials have said Russia's jobless total will rise by over half a million in 2009.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has taken a frontline role in fighting the economic crisis, warning that the coming year will be tough but vowing the government would do everything to help the people.

Protests over the economy were highly unusual over the last half decade as Russia enjoyed a boom in growth but have become relatively frequent since the crisis struck. -- AFP

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