Over 100 detained in Russia at rallies in memory of Navalny

Russian police have detained more than 100 people at spontaneous memorials for deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny, rights group OVD-Info reported on Saturday.
The 47-year-old Kremlin critic was serving a 19-year sentence in an Arctic prison when authorities announced his death, sparking grief among his supporters. People were seen gathering to lay flowers at makeshift memorials across Russia late on Friday, and in some cases were detained by police, footage on social media showed. As of February 17, "over 101 people" had already been detained in 10 cities, including 64 in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, OVD-Info said. Eleven people were detained in the capital Moscow, and scores of others in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don and Tver, it added.
Protests are illegal in Russia under strict laws against dissent, with particularly strict measures imposed on rallies in support of Navalny. Authorities in the Russian capital said on Friday they were aware of online calls "to participate in a mass rally in central Moscow" and warned people not to attend. /BGNES, AFP