In Moscow, thousands of mourners gathered outside a church for Alexei Navalny’s funeral amid heavy police presence, but mourners say it was important for them to be there.

Mourner: “I could not not come, because I think that I have to give my last respect to this man.”

Reporter: “Were you afraid?”

Mourner: “We were very afraid. We arrived early and were standing here for a long time hiding our flowers and cameras. But now I realize that we need to do this and speak up.”

Hundreds of people have been arrested for publicly mourning Navalny in the two weeks since his death at an Arctic prison. The U.S., rights groups and others have blamed President Putin directly for Navalny’s death. Among those spotted at the funeral were recently disqualified antiwar Russian presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin and prominent Putin critic and former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman, as well as U.S., French and German diplomats.