Navalny funeral: Thousands gather as Russian opposition leader laid to rest – National

Thousands of Russians chanted opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s  name on Friday and said they would not forgive the authorities for his death as his mother and father attended a small funeral in a Moscow church surrounded by police.

A photograph of Navalny released on social media showed his body lying inside a flower-laden coffin inside as his mother, wearing a black headscarf and with a candle in one hand, sat alongside his father nearby.

An Orthodox priest presided over the short service, while outside, people queuing around the church who had been prevented from entering to say goodbye clapped and chanted “Navalny! Navalny!.”

After his coffin had been carried out, some people chanted “Russia will be free,” “No to war,” “Russia without Putin,” “We won’t forget” and “Putin is a murderer.”

Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic inside Russia, died at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16., sparking accusations from his supporters that he had been murdered. The Kremlin has denied any state involvement in his death.

The authorities have outlawed his movement as extremist and cast his supporters as U.S.-backed troublemakers out to foment revolution.

His funeral comes two weeks before a presidential election when Putin, Russia’s paramount leader for over 20 years and in charge of all the levers of state, is expected to easily win another six-year term.

There was heavy security at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, an imposing white domed building in south-east Moscow where the service was held.

People carrying flowers arrived early to try to get in and mourners queued in an orderly fashion as they waited for the service to start.

“We’re all here together. Nobody is afraid,” one man, who did not give his name, told a reporter from the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper. “I’m here to support his family and show that they are not alone.”

Clutching red flowers, another man, who said he was 73, said he felt Navalny’s death as a personal loss and had admired him for…