Vigils and demonstrations were held in cities across Russia and in many world capitals to honor Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in a remote Arctic penal colony.
On Saturday, the protest monitoring group OVD-Info said more than 170 people were detained across Russia at memorials to pay their respects and mourn the 47-year-old politician who was a prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin.
The federal penitentiary service said Navalny was knocked unconscious and died on Friday after a walk through the “Polar Wolf” penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, causing great grief and shock among his followers around the world and the condemnation of world leaders.
In the capital, Moscow, hundreds of flowers and candles placed for Navalny were mostly carried overnight in black bags. Videos and photos shared on Russian social media also showed flowers being removed from monuments to victims of Soviet-era repression across the country.
Protests are illegal in Russia under strict laws against dissent, and authorities have cracked down especially hard on demonstrations in support of Navalny.
Around the world, leaders said the Russian government was solely responsible for this death. In capitals from Tbilisi, Georgia, and Berlin, Germany, to Washington, D.C., and London, vigils were held in memory of Navalny, along with protests outside Russian embassies.
