Some 250 demonstrators gathered near the Russian embassy in Berlin on Sunday to protest at the death of jailed dissident Alexei Navalny, police in the German capital reported.
The organizers had registered a protest by 450 people, German agency DPA reported.
Shortly before the protest called for the early afternoon, the Pussy Riot protest group announced its own demonstration. A police spokesman said that a number of people with pink hoods and banners had arrived at the embassy and left shortly afterwards.
Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist protest and performance art group, issued a statement saying that the situation was dangerous for members of its group as well. “We call on the international community to show solidarity and to work for justice,” the group said.
“Alexei Navalny’s murder and threats to Pussy Riot members are attacks on the fundamental values of freedom, justice and human dignity that we have to defend with determination,” it said.
Members of the group, which was set up in 2011, have been sentenced to lengthy terms in prison in Russia.
Protests have been held all round the world to mark the death of the 47-year-old activist in a Siberian penal colony since it was announced on Friday.
