Russians commemorate Navalny death, petition for Navalny Square in Antwerp

That the commemoration took place by the statue of Peter the Great is no coincidence. ‘He is a symbol of imperialist chauvinist Russia trying to conquer everyone, a kind of ‘Putin figure’ in other words,’ says Anastasia Kholodilova, who took the initiative for the commemoration.

‘We do not want the statue removed, but we hope his image can be given a different significance. That is why we propose to name the square, which currently has no name, after Aleksei Navalny.’

‘Njet’ from previous administration

The Russians put their request to the previous city administration, but their efforts bore no fruit. Alderman Erica Caluwaerts indicated that the square could not be named after Navalny because he had no specific connection to the location.

New alderman Ben Casier says he is looking into the possibilities.

To reinforce their message, the Russian opposition community also launched a petition . ‘We want to collect as many signatures as possible from people who support our wish to immortalise Navalny in the streetscape of Antwerp. This can be done by naming the square after him, but we are open to other ideas.’

On Sunday two other activities were staged to commemorate the death of the Russian opposition leader, who died in a Russian jail.  ‘We will walk through the centre of Antwerp forming the shape of a heart, because Navalny also often formed the figure of a heart with his hands when he was in prison. We are screening a documentary film about his life and struggle. The film will be shown in Russian and English, with English subtitles’ Anastasia Kholodilova told reporters.