MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia intervened in a bitter dispute in a provincial Russian city that erupted in protests this week, calling on the regional authorities to settle the matter peacefully.

Such bursts of public outrage are growing more common in Russia, where stagnating and even declining living standards juxtaposed with expensive foreign adventures, official corruption and environmental degradation are testing people’s patience and driving down Mr. Putin’s popularity ratings.

The protests began this week in Yekaterinburg, around 900 miles east of Moscow, after construction workers arrived to install a fence in a popular park — one of the few remaining green areas in the city of 1.5 million — in preparation for breaking ground for a new Orthodox cathedral.

As the week wore on, some of the protesters clashed with the police and private security guards. Dozens have been detained and 30 subjected to administrative arrest, Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported.