People gathered to pay their respects to Alexey Navalny during his funeral on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY
At least 27,000 people came to pay their respects to murdered opposition leader Alexey Navalny between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, independent media outlet Mediazona reported on Wednesday citing passenger data sourced from the Moscow metro.
The closest metro station to the cemetery where Navalny was buried, Borisovo, saw a huge rise in passenger numbers last Friday, the day of the funeral, Mediazona wrote, adding that up to 18,600 more people entered the station on Friday than the usual number for that day of the week, while a further 8,600 people visited Navalny’s grave on Saturday and Sunday.
As the calculations were based solely on the number of people who used the metro, the figures are likely to be significantly lower than the actual number, Mediazona added, noting that it had been unable to calculate the number of people who came and left on foot, used ground transport, taxis or their own vehicles.
Navalny’s memorial ceremony and funeral were held in Moscow on Friday, in the city’s Maryino neighbourhood where Navalny lived. Non-profit organisation White Counter previously estimated that as many as 16,500 people had attended Navalny’s funeral, noting that this figure only related to those crossing the bridge on foot between the church where the service was held and the cemetery where Navalny was buried.
