Hundreds of people have been arrested around Russia during demonstrations protesting the murder of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in a Siberian prison, with police removing memorials nearly as soon as they are put up, CBS News reports.
The New York Times reports more than 400 people were arrested for acts as simple as laying flowers at various towns around the prison. In Moscow, a group with a police escort removed an impromptu memorial outside the headquarters of Russia’s national police, but overnight, more flowers reappeared.
The Times also reports some of the conditions Navalny was held under at the penal colony where he died. He was reportedly being held in a punishment cell where every day at 6:30 a.m., he would be allowed into a narrow concrete room barely larger than an airshaft, but open to the sky above, the only view of the sky some prisoners get daily. Although prison officials said Navalny collapsed while “walking,” he died reportedly after being in that enclosure for an unspecified time while the outdoor temperatures were -20º F.