Following the death of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, in a Russian penal colony, memorial rallies and protests have erupted across Russia and abroad. Human rights group OVD-Info reports that police have detained over 401 individuals in 32 cities for participating in memorial events, with at least 273 people detained in the initial days. In Moscow, tributes at the Wall of Grief monument were removed overnight by unidentified groups under police surveillance. Similar acts of commemoration and protest have occurred outside Russia, including a rally by Pussy Riot in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin. The Russian judiciary has sentenced at least 150 mourners to short jail terms, with Saint Petersburg alone accounting for 154 of these sentences. These widespread arrests and judicial actions underscore the Kremlin's harsh response to public expressions of grief and dissent following Navalny's death.
As the world mourns the death of Alexei Navalny, Putin’s autocrat police state arrests hundreds of people for laying flowers in Navalny’s memory. Let’s honor Navalny by standing strong with champions of democracy and freedom everywhere. https://t.co/YMTUkurABQ
Flowers and bouquets had been placed on the monument in the Russian city following the mysterious death of Alexei Navalny. Police watch on as flowers from a political monument are thrown into bin bags and taken away. https://t.co/Fdqb4ONT4Q https://t.co/4WQ4H2ODus
Russians risk arrest to mourn Alexei Navalny with vigils and flowers. https://t.co/2jrHotvMxl https://t.co/0RJFKHp6dZ
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's death in an Arctic penal colony has moved many people across Russia to leave public tributes to the prominent Putin critic, which has led to hundreds of arrests. https://t.co/kfAuaoU6ZD
In #Russia, the police detained 389 people in 39 cities during 16-19 February for commemorating the late opposition leader Alexey @Navalny: https://t.co/voEKCRADFw https://t.co/aRHAAlFBpu
Hundreds risk arrest, and Kremlin’s wrath, to lay flowers for Navalny https://t.co/EofDTAO7zo
As thousands of Russians tried to give voice to their grief for Aleksei Navalny, who died in a remote Arctic penal colony on Friday, Russian police officers cracked down, temporarily detaining hundreds of people and placing more than two dozen in jail. https://t.co/7M7iTQ34U0
More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most formidable opponent, according to rights group OVD-Info, as Russians continued to gather and lay flowers https://t.co/ltNttysenl
#Russia courts have sentenced dozens of people detained at events commemorating #Kremlin critic Alexei #Navalny to short prison sentences, official court announcements show, with 154 sentenced in Saint Petersburg alone. https://t.co/J0Dp9sv7RA
Sky’s Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay gives an eyewitness account from the Wall ofGrief in Russia, where people are laying flowers for Alexei Navalny. Mourners are defying Russian authorities by doing so. https://t.co/5kkWd14lQV
#BREAKING Russia sentences at least 150 Navalny mourners to short jail terms: courts https://t.co/kmoA4N2ylG
Floral tributes to Alexey Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who reportedly died Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unidentified people while police watched, videos on Russian social media show. https://t.co/3zMos5CGD6
Feminist opposition group Pussy Riot staged a protest in front of Berlin's Russian embassy in honor of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian penal colony https://t.co/ADnhq8UteJ https://t.co/zY0XX9Ya50
In 140 cities across #Russia, people have been leaving photographs and flowers in memory of Alexey #Navalny, often at monuments to the victims of the GULAG system. Putin's police are on the scene quickly to destroy everything and intimidate or arrest mourners, but on they go. https://t.co/fMizu4r47x
People are leaving flowers at the small monuments to the victims of political repression and the Gulag in Russia, built in a more open era, in memory of Navalny. Some are being arrested, or forced to give their names to the police. https://t.co/XkSgVKzNSv
Pussy Riot activists held a memorial protest for Alexey Navalny on Sunday in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin. https://t.co/bINaeDvVa5
Over 400 Arrested for Attending Navalny Memorial Demonstrations in Russia https://t.co/KqU489oC96
Mourners continued to lay flowers at the Solovetskiy Stone in Moscow on Sunday in tribute to Alexei Navalny. The monument commemorates victims of political repression. Read more: https://t.co/dfWvFKppaQ https://t.co/OBdK6OYD3X
Pussy Riot held a rally in front of the Russian embassy in #Berlin The protesters marched to the Russian embassy with a "murderers" banner. Russian opposition activists Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, other members of Pussy Riot, as well as Lyubov Sobol and Marina Ovsyannikova are… https://t.co/2Teuzf66o0
Russians continued to pay tribute to Aleksei Navalny on February 18, laying flowers at ad hoc memorials and defying the authorities, who detained more than 400 people at gatherings for the late opposition leader over the past three days. https://t.co/WRUuRGarUZ
Hundreds of people were detained in Russia while paying tribute to the opposition leader who died at a remote Arctic penal colony, via @AP https://t.co/w92eo4XRFV
Over the first two days of memorial protests for Alexey Navalny across Russia, police arrested 401 people in 36 cities, reports the human rights project OVD-Info. https://t.co/U2vlLzt8Xp
With Putin fearful of Navalny even in death (or murder), "police in Russia have detained more than 270 people across the country at memorials and rallies to honor" him. https://t.co/xer7eOM2AJ
Risking arrest, people brought flowers and other improvised memorials for Alexei Navalny to Moscow's Wall of Grief, an act considered to be dissent by the Kremlin. | via @nytimes https://t.co/UsF16VnFz6
🔴 Police in Russia detain hundreds in protests against Navalny’s death https://t.co/Q9xGGfZsNF
At least 273 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of #AlexeiNavalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, according to rights group OVD-Info. #Russia https://t.co/DhzwllGAzZ
Tributes to Alexei Navalny, Putin's greatest foe, were removed from Russian cities as police watched. https://t.co/OV4zo1ZXbm
Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, a fierce foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who died Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unknown people while police watched, videos on Russian social media channels show. https://t.co/pZ26GP1Wb9
Russians risk arrest to mourn Alexei Navalny with vigils and flowers https://t.co/tLOw0j1PqM
“In Moscow, hundreds of Russians came to the Wall of Grief monument honoring victims of political repression in Russia... Overnight, Moscow city authorities removed piles of flowers that people had left to commemorate Mr. Navalny.” @nytimes https://t.co/SgZp0GIEmR
OVD-Info, a Russian legal rights group that provides legal assistance to detainees, said that at least 340 people had been arrested while paying tribute to Navalny at memorial sites in more than 30 cities and towns.
Russian Israelis gather in front of the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv to protest the murder of political prisoner Navalny. https://t.co/3SozgoQlhn
Russians continue to lay flowers at a memorial for Alexei Navalny despite police arrests in Moscow. https://t.co/RrggRAO4Ss
Update: At least 284 people in 31 Russian cities have been arrested at memorial protests for Navalny, according to @ovdinfo_en. https://t.co/R6vYIrZyL3 https://t.co/3SCkZJ0l8V
Authorities across the Russian Federation are violently arresting Russians who dare to leave flowers at memorials in honor of Alexei Navalny or otherwise gather in small groups to remember him. Hundreds of Russians (at least) have been violently arrested in the past 24 hours… https://t.co/5eBXdrfLqf
Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who died Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unidentified people while police watched, videos on Russian social media show. https://t.co/3SDwk1guNa
Riot police today arresting Russian citizens who came to pay tribute to #Navalny https://t.co/JcLh0xYPtw
Alexei Navalny death: Over 100 arrested for paying tribute to fallen Russian activist https://t.co/hZfPPj57AG
Alexei Navalny death: Over 100 arrested for paying tribute to fallen Russian activist. https://t.co/Fn6T4RQGLy Click the image to read more:
Navalny's memorial rallies in Russia: 273 people were detained over two days while laying flowers at monuments to victims of political repression in 31 Russian cities, "OVD-Info" reports. According to human rights activists, the most detentions occurred in St. Petersburg. https://t.co/kxATqT3GL4
Across the road from #Russia’s embassy, in #London, #UK, people keep bringing flowers to an ad hoc memorial to Alexey @Navalny: https://t.co/bNkxghrBxS