"Twelve armed men entered by force, threw workers out onto the street and barricaded themselves in," planetarium director Igor Mikitasov told the Echo of Moscow radio station.

He blamed the raid on Moscow City Hall, which owns 61 percent of the building to Mikitasov's 39 percent, RIA Novosti news agency reported. A city spokeswoman told the agency the guards acted legally and were not armed.

If the raid succeeds, Mikitasov told Vesti-24 television, the planetarium will be sold off and "fall into the hands of a private firm that will be able to create whatever it wants with it, from a casino to an entertainment centre".

The planetarium was built in the 1920s and closed in 1994 for repairs. It never reopened as Mikitasov and Moscow City Hall argued over ownership and payment for the work done.

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