Police in Russia crack down on Navalny protests as human rights group claims 'at least 100 arrested'

Police in Russia have cracked down on people gathered to mark the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny – with one human rights group claiming that at least 100 people have been arrested.

Police officers detain a man at a makeshift memorial to Alexei Navalny in St Petersburg. Pic: AP

Footage and pictures from Russia’s two largest cities – Moscow and St Petersburg – showed officers ripping away placards from protesters and dragging others away from makeshift memorials to Mr Navalny.

Journalists at the site in Moscow – set up at a monument to victims of Soviet repression – were also filmed being detained.

One woman at the site told Sky News: “All that is happening over these years, on the territory of my beloved country, is a disgrace.”

A woman who laid flowers for Alexei Navalny is detained in St Petersburg. Pic: AP

Another added: “I am furious, of course. They have finally killed him.”

According to the Russian human rights group, OVD-info, at least 100 people have been arrested across eight cities, including Moscow, St Petersburg and Krasnodar, during gatherings to mark Mr Navalny’s death.

Police officers detain a woman at the site in St Petersburg. Pic: AP

Though police have not given any details on arrests, prosecutors have warned Russians against participating in any mass protest in Moscow.

It comes after jailed dissident Mr Navalny, a chief critic of President Vladimir Putin who had campaigned against official corruption and led major anti-Kremlin protests, was confirmed dead by prison authorities in Russia on Friday, at the age of 47.

Protests across Europe

Protests were also held outside of Russia, including in London, where people carrying pictures of Mr Navalny’s face demonstrated outside the Russian embassy near Notting Hill.

Police take a sign off a protester in Moscow. Pic: AP

One man at the protest, who did not wish to be named, said: “I want Russia to be a country that is respected all over the world.

Alexei Navalny appears via a video link from the Arctic penal colony where he was being held prior to his death. Pic: AP

“I want to love my flag. But today it’s not possible because the flag represents the war.”

In Berlin, hundreds gathered near the Russian embassy chanting in a mixture of Russian, German and English, including “Putin to the Hague”.

Alexei Navalny, pictured in court in 2021. Pic: AP

In Lithuania, formerly run from Moscow but now a member of NATO and the European Union, mourners placed flowers and candles by a portrait of Mr Navalny.

Protesters have gathered outside the Russian embassy in London after the death of Alexei Navalny.

“He was always with us, so it is all surreal,” said Lyusya Shtein, 26, a Pussy Riot activist who has lived in Vilnius since leaving Russia in 2022.

Groups also gathered in cities including Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sofia, Geneva, and The Hague, among others.

World leaders react

Protests have also taken place in Berlin, Germany. Pic: AP

World leaders, meanwhile, reacted to the news of Mr Navalny’s death, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly pointing the blame on Mr Putin.

“It is obvious that he was killed by Putin,” he said during a visit to the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

A person places a candle at a makeshift memorial for Alexei Navalny in Montreal, Canada. Pic: AP

“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 said Washington does not know exactly what happened, “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 country temporarily took in Mr Navalny in 2020 after he was poisoned with a nerve agent, praised the Kremlin critic’s bravery and said his death makes clear “what kind of regime this is [In Russia]”.

The one man Putin refused to mention by name

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Speaking at the security conference in Munich, his wife Yulia Navalnaya, said: “For many years we cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie.

“But if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around him to know that they will be held accountable for everything they did to our country, to my family. And this day will come very soon.

“I want to call on the international community and all people to unite and defeat this evil.”

UK summons Russian ambassador

The UK’s foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, said Mr Putin must be held accountable and said there should be “consequences” for the Russian president.

Foreign Office officials 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 prison sentence on extremism charges in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle at the time of his death.

He had been behind bars since he returned from Germany in January 2021, serving time on various charges that he rejected as a politically motivated effort to keep him imprisoned for life.

Russian prison authorities said Mr Navalny had felt unwell following a walk on Friday and lost consciousness.

Efforts by medical staff to revive him failed, according to the service.