Sawt Falasteen - Across Europe, mourners turn out to pay tribute to Navalny

Navalny's death was announced earlier in the day by officials in the Arctic Russian prison where he was serving a 19-year prison term.

From cities in western Europe to the capitals of former Soviet bloc states, people turned out to pay tribute to Navalny, a charismatic lawyer widely regarded as the politician best able to rally domestic opposition to Putin.

And some mourners were already blaming Navalny's death on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Putin murderer! Putin to the Hague," cried a crowd massed before Russia's imposing embassy in Berlin -- a reference to the Dutch city that hosts the International Criminal Court.

Most of the several hundred people gathered there were Russian-speakers, many holding up posters of members of the opposition or slogans criticising Vladimir Putin.

"It's a hard hit emotionally," said Evgueni Syrokin, who coordinates the "FreeNavalny" movement in Germany.

"It pushes us to continue to work, to struggle against Putin," added the 43-year-old, bearing a black and white photo of the opposition figure.

Behind him, flowers, candles and photos of Navalny were laid on the pavement.

- Candles and flowers -

In Warsaw, about a hundred people gathered to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy there. Most of them were young and visibly upset.

One 29-year-old Russian who only wanted to be identified as Denislan, said he saw Navalny as a symbol of Russian civil society.

"I am here because Russia should and can become a democratic country," he said.

Candles were lit and flowers spread out in front of the gates of the well-guarded embassy.

In Switzerland, around 300 people attended an impromptu gathering outside Zurich's train station, while more than a hundred gathered in front of the United Nations in Geneva, carrying portraits of Navalny, and white flowers.

And in Moscow too, small groups of Russians laid flowers at makeshift memorials.

Images on social media showed dozens of people queueing to place flowers at monuments to victims of political repression in the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The shock announcement of Navalny's death came a day before official campaigning starts in what critics say will be a stage-managed presidential election in March that will extend the 71-year-old's two-decade hold on power.

In the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, crowds gathered at a memorial to victims of the Soviet occupation.

"Even in prison he managed to find the force and give it to those who resist," said one Russian resident of Vilnius who did not want to give his name.

In London, a few dozen gathered outside the Russian embassy with signs in English and Russian saying "Putin assassin", "Navalny is our hero", and "Putin go to hell".

Hundreds of people also gathered in the capitals of Armenia, France, Georgia, and the Netherlands.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled their homeland since Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST