© Reuters. An indication with a picture of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny is seen as folks attend a vigil held in entrance of Russian embassy in Berlin after his loss of life, Germany, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
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BERLIN/VILNIUS (Reuters) -Tons of of protesters, lots of them Russian emigres, gathered in cities throughout Europe and past on Friday to specific their outrage over the loss of life of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Usually gathering outdoors Russian embassies, they chanted slogans crucial of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blamed for the activist’s loss of life, 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 stated.
In Berlin, a crowd of 500 to 600 folks, in line with police estimates, gathered on the town’s Unter den Linden boulevard, chanting in a combination of Russian, German and English.
Some chanted “Putin to the Hague”, referring to the worldwide legal courtroom investigating potential struggle crimes dedicated in Ukraine.
Police used boundaries to shut off the street between the Russian embassy and the group.
“Alexei Navalny is the chief of the Russian opposition and we all the time stored hope in his title,” stated a Russian man draped in a blue-and-white anti-war flag, giving his title solely as Ilia.
In Lithuania, previously run from Moscow however now a member of NATO and the European Union and residential to a sizeable neighborhood of emigres, protesters positioned flowers and candles by a portrait of Navalny.
“He was all the time with us, so it’s all surreal,” stated 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 towards taking part 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-Information, which stories on freedom of meeting in Russia, stated that greater than 100 folks 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 outdoors Russia’s London embassy, holding placards that referred to as Putin a struggle legal, whereas in Lisbon a whole bunch held a silent vigil. Pavel Elizarov, a 28-year-old Russian residing in Portugal, stated Navalny had been “an emblem of freedom and hope.”
Close to the Russian embassy in Paris, the place round 100 protesters gathered, Natalia Morozov stated Navalny had additionally been an emblem of hope for her.
“It is exhausting for me to specific my feelings, as a result of I am actually shaken”, stated Morozov. “Now we now not have hope for the gorgeous Russia of the longer term”.
Navalny’s loss of life, 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 passed off. She instructed the Munich Safety Convention she couldn’t ensure her husband was lifeless as a result of “Putin and his authorities… lie incessantly” however stated that if confirmed she needed them to know “they may bear accountability.”
On the opposite aspect of the Atlantic, at a vigil outdoors the Russian consulate in New York Metropolis, Violetta Soboleva stated 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,” stated Soboleva, a Russian finding out for her doctorate in New York. “And now we have misplaced this future endlessly.”
