© Reuters. An indication with a picture of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny is seen as individuals attend a vigil held in entrance of Russian embassy in Berlin after his dying, Germany, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
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BERLIN/VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lots of of protesters, a lot of them Russian emigres, gathered in cities throughout Europe and past on Friday to specific their outrage over the dying of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Typically gathering exterior Russian embassies, they chanted slogans crucial of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blamed for the activist’s dying, holding up indicators calling him a “killer” and demanding accountability.
Putin’s most formidable home opponent, Navalny fell unconscious and died on Friday after a stroll on the Arctic penal colony the place he was serving a three-decade sentence, jail authorities mentioned.
In Berlin, a crowd of 500 to 600 individuals, in keeping with police estimates, gathered on the town’s Unter den Linden boulevard, chanting in a mix of Russian, German and English.
Some chanted “Putin to the Hague”, referring to the worldwide legal court docket investigating potential warfare crimes dedicated in Ukraine.
Police used obstacles to shut off the street between the Russian embassy and the group.
“Alexei Navalny is the chief of the Russian opposition and we at all times stored hope in his identify,” mentioned a Russian man draped in a blue-and-white anti-war flag, giving his identify solely as Ilia.
In Lithuania, previously run from Moscow however now a member of NATO and the European Union and residential to a sizeable group of emigres, protesters positioned flowers and candles by a portrait of Navalny.
“He was at all times with us, so it’s all surreal,” mentioned Lyusya Shtein, 26, a Pussy Riot activist who has lived in Vilnius since leaving Russia in 2022. “None of us but perceive what occurred”.
In Russia itself, prosecutors warned Russians in opposition to collaborating in any mass protest in Moscow. Police watched as some Russians got here to put roses and carnations at a monument to victims of Soviet repression within the shadow of the previous KGB headquarters.
Rights group OVD-Data, which reviews on freedom of meeting in Russia, mentioned that greater than 100 individuals had been detained at rallies in reminiscence of Navalny. Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the report.
Teams additionally gathered in Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sofia, Geneva and The Hague, amongst others.
Greater than 100 protesters stood exterior Russia’s London embassy, holding placards that known as Putin a warfare legal, whereas in Lisbon tons of held a silent vigil. Pavel Elizarov, a 28-year-old Russian residing in Portugal, mentioned Navalny had been “an emblem of freedom and hope.”
Close to the Russian embassy in Paris, the place round 100 protesters gathered, Natalia Morozov mentioned Navalny had additionally been an emblem of hope for her.
“It is arduous for me to specific my feelings, as a result of I am actually shaken”, mentioned Morozov. “Now we not have hope for the gorgeous Russia of the longer term”.
Navalny’s dying, if confirmed, leaves the scattered teams that oppose Putin with out a figurehead, and no apparent candidate to marshal any discontent over his demise into mass protests.
Navalny’s spouse, Yulia, was in Munich on Friday, the place a vigil additionally happened. She informed the Munich Safety Convention she couldn’t be certain her husband was lifeless as a result of “Putin and his authorities… lie incessantly” however mentioned that if confirmed she wished them to know “they are going to bear duty.”
On the opposite aspect of the Atlantic, at a vigil exterior the Russian consulate in New York Metropolis, Violetta Soboleva mentioned she had volunteered for Navalny’s presidential marketing campaign in 2017.
“I actually believed that he is the one and he can lead Russia to a greater future,” mentioned Soboleva, a Russian learning for her doctorate in New York. “And now we have misplaced this future without end.”