Crowd chants anti-Putin slogans as thousands gather for Alexei Navalny’s funeral

Thousands of people gathered in Moscow on Friday to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny during his funeral, defying a heavy police presence and warnings from the Kremlin of arrests.

Navalny, 47, was Vladimir Putin’s chief opponent and was pronounced dead on 16 February at the Arctic prison where he was serving a decades-long prison sentence on what many believe were trumped-up charges.

Western leaders have lined up to lay responsibility for Navalny's death. His wife, Yulia, has directly called out the Russian leader for killing him.

Outside the Soothe My Sorrows church in southeast Moscow, people began to gather hours before will be free”, “No to war”, “Russia without Putin”, “We won’t forgive” and “Putin is a murderer”.