Police in Russia have cracked down on individuals gathered to mark the demise of opposition chief Alexei Navalny – with one human rights group claiming that a minimum of 100 individuals have been arrested.
Footage and photos from Russia’s two largest cities – Moscow and St Petersburg – confirmed officers ripping away placards from protesters and dragging others away from makeshift memorials to Mr Navalny.
Journalists on the web site in Moscow – arrange at a monument to victims of Soviet repression – have been additionally filmed being detained.
One lady on the web site advised Sky News: “All that is happening over these years, on the territory of my beloved country, is a disgrace.”
Another added: “I am furious, of course. They have finally killed him.”
According to the Russian human rights group, OVD-info, a minimum of 100 individuals have been arrested throughout eight cities, together with Moscow, St Petersburg and Krasnodar, throughout gatherings to mark Mr Navalny’s demise.
Though police haven’t given any particulars on arrests, prosecutors have warned Russians towards collaborating in any mass protest in Moscow.
It comes after jailed dissident Mr Navalny, a chief critic of President Vladimir Putin who had campaigned towards official corruption and led main anti-Kremlin protests, was confirmed lifeless by jail authorities in Russia on Friday, on the age of 47.
Protests throughout Europe
Protests have been additionally held exterior of Russia, together with in London, the place individuals carrying photos of Mr Navalny’s face demonstrated exterior the Russian embassy close to Notting Hill.
One man on the protest, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned: “I want Russia to be a country that is respected all over the world.
“I need to love my flag. But at this time it is not doable as a result of the flag represents the conflict.”
In Berlin, lots of gathered close to the Russian embassy chanting in a mix of Russian, German and English, together with “Putin to the Hague”.
In Lithuania, previously run from Moscow however now a member of NATO and the European Union, mourners positioned flowers and candles by a portrait of Mr Navalny.
“He was always with us, so it is all surreal,” mentioned Lyusya Shtein, 26, a Pussy Riot activist who has lived in Vilnius since leaving Russia in 2022.
Groups additionally gathered in cities together with Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sofia, Geneva, and The Hague, amongst others.
World leaders react
World leaders, in the meantime, reacted to the information of Mr Navalny’s demise, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly pointing the blame on Mr Putin.
“It is obvious that he was killed by Putin,” he mentioned throughout a go to to the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“Putin doesn’t care who dies – only for him to hold his position. This is why he must hold onto nothing. Putin must lose everything and be held responsible for his deeds,” he added.
US President Joe Biden mentioned Washington doesn’t know precisely what occurred, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose nation quickly took in Mr Navalny in 2020 after he was poisoned with a nerve agent, praised the Kremlin critic’s bravery and mentioned his demise makes clear “what kind of regime this is [In Russia]”.
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Speaking on the safety convention in Munich, his spouse Yulia Navalnaya, mentioned: “For many years we cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie.
“But if that is true, I need Putin and everybody round him to know that they are going to be held accountable for all the pieces they did to our nation, to my household. And today will come very quickly.
“I want to call on the international community and all people to unite and defeat this evil.”
UK summons Russian ambassador
The UK’s overseas secretary, Lord Cameron, mentioned Mr Putin have to be held accountable and mentioned there ought to be “consequences” for the Russian president.
Foreign Office officers have summoned the Russian ambassador to “make clear that we hold the Russian authorities fully responsible”.
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Mr Navalny was serving a 19-year jail sentence on extremism fees in a distant penal colony above the Arctic Circle on the time of his demise.
He had been behind bars since he returned from Germany in January 2021, serving time on varied fees that he rejected as a politically motivated effort to maintain him imprisoned for all times.
Russian jail authorities mentioned Mr Navalny had felt unwell following a stroll on Friday and misplaced consciousness.
Efforts by medical employees to revive him failed, in response to the service.
Source: information.sky.com”