spontaneous protests flourish across Europe

Hundreds of people gathered notably in Poland, Lithuania, Germany and France.

In Poland, Lithuania, Germany, France…Hundreds of people gathered on Friday, February 16, across Europe to pay tribute to the number one opponent of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, of whom Moscow announced the death. Alexei Navalny, who had rallied many supporters with his criticism of the corruption of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, died on Friday, February 16, at the age of 47 in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence.

In Paris, around 200 people gathered in the afternoon in front of the Peter I of Serbia monument, in the 16th arrondissement, after being removed from the Russian embassy by the police. The demonstrators accused the Russian regime of having killed the opponent. A small portrait was left in his memory, with some flowers. Some demonstrators were in tears. “I can’t believe what just happened,” confides this young woman from Moscow. The demonstrators shouted “Putin assassin” And “Russia will be free”.

“I thought he would live forever.”

In Warsaw, around a hundred people demonstrated in front of the Russian embassy in Poland, mostly young people, many of whom seemed upset. Candles were lit and flowers placed against the fence surrounding the heavily guarded embassy building. The demonstrators raised slogans, including “Putin, assassin”And “Never forget, never forgive.”

Several hundred people brandishing portraits of the deceased also gathered in Lithuania, a country very critical of Russia. The demonstration was held at the memorial to the victims of the Soviet occupation in Vilnius. A Russian woman who refused to identify herself and has lived in Lithuania since last year said Navalny was “a person who said what (she) thinks and gave (her) hope”. “Even from his prison, he managed to find strength and give it to those who resist”did she say. “I thought he would live forever.”.

“Putin murderer!”

There were also several hundred of them in Berlin in front of the Russian embassy. “Putin murderer! Putin in The Hague!” (city of international courts) chanted the crowd gathered on the famous avenue Unter den Linden, in the center of the German capital. In a predominantly Russian-speaking crowd with Germans mingling, many signs carried photos or quotes from the opponent or insults against Vladimir Putin.

In the Netherlands, several hundred people demonstrated on Dam Square in front of the royal palace in Amsterdam as well as in front of the Russian embassy in The Hague, on the gates of which a portrait of the deceased was hung. Amsterdam protesters carried signs “Putin is a killer” And “Do not abandon”, according to the ANP news agency.

In London, several dozen people gathered in front of the Russian embassy, ​​behind barriers, carrying signs in English or Russian saying “Putin assassin”, “Assassins”, “Navalny our hero”, “My Russia is in prison”, “Don’t give up”, “We are Navalny” or “Putin is burning in hell.”