In Russia and various cities around the world, actions in memory of opposition politician Alexei Navalny have begun. The news about Navalny’s sudden death in a Yamal colony was published by the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service on February 16.
After the publication of the news in many Russian cities, local residents began to bring flowers to the monuments to political prisoners. Spontaneous memorials sprang up in Ulyanovsk, Novosibirsk and Vyatka, the Astra publication reported. The channel Govorit NeMoskva adds Tomsk, Kazan, Izhevsk, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Tver, Kirov and Belgorod to the list.
In Novosibirsk, a local resident went on a solitary picket with a placard reading “Who’s next?”. Police officers asked her why she was doing this, but did not detain her.
Another resident went on a picket in Murmansk. She held a placard with the inscription “His blood is on your hands, Vova”. She was detained.
Flowers and lamps appeared in St. Petersburg at the Solovetsky Stone on Troitskaya Square and at the monument to victims of repression on Voskresenskaya Embankment.
People carry flowers to the Solovetsky Stone in Moscow. Police are on duty at the memorial. A spontaneous memorial has sprung up near the house in Maryino, where Alexei Navalny lived before his arrest.
It is reported about the detention of a picketer at the “Wall of Sorrow”. The Prosecutor’s office of Moscow issued a warning in connection with calls for mass action. At the same time, there are almost no calls for actions in social networks, their participants come to the memorial sites on personal initiative.
According to local Telegram channels, police cordoned off a memorial in Novosibirsk allegedly because of reports of a bomb threat. In Tomsk, police came to the Stone of Sorrow. In Ulyanovsk, people in civilian clothes immediately remove flowers and take pictures of those who brought them. About the cordons of monuments write also from Omsk and Kazan.
In many countries of the world, Russian-speaking diasporas have announced rallies in memory of Navalny. The list compiled by the organization Kovcheg includes events in more than 20 countries (the list is being supplemented). The rallies are held mainly in front of Russian embassies and consulates.
In Tbilisi, activists took action in front of the Russian interests section of the Swiss embassy in Georgia with posters, the text for which was written by people from Russia, Daria Serenko tweeted.
In Yerevan, according to Novaya Gazeta-Europe, police prevented protesters from entering the embassy and the building was cordoned off.
