Tributes to Alexei Navalny removed from Russian cities as police look on

Police officers detain a man laying flowers for Alexei Navalny at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St Petersburg, Russia (AP)

Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who died on Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unknown people while police watched, videos on Russian social media channels show.

More than 100 people were detained in eight cities across Russia after they came to lay flowers in memory of Mr Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political repression in Russia.