66,000 sign petition to rename Russian embassy's street after opposition leader Navalny

Andries Bickerweg, the street the Russian embassy is located on in The Hague, should be renamed after opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison last week. A petition by Lissa Hollman to change the name of the street to Aleksej Navalnyweg has received nearly 66,000 signatures.

“It is the first time I have done something like this. I have no political background at all, but I am a citizen with a healthy interest in world news,” Hollman (31) told RTL Nieuws. She started following Navalny in the news after watching the Oscar-winning documentary about his life. “At the end of that documentary, he is asked what his parting message would be if he were killed. He said: ‘All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. So keep resisting.’ That stayed with me.”

Hollman wasn’t surprised by the news of Navalny’s death. “But that may be the worst part,” she told the broadcaster. “I went to the Russian embassy to lay flowers. In Russia, candles and flowers were taken away, people were arrested. The Kremlin is trying to make his name disappear.” That gave her the idea for her petition to change the name of the street the Russian embassy is located on.

The municipality of The Hague has also received several requests to change the street name. “These are understandable and sympathetic. The municipality is looking at how this can be complied with,” a spokesperson told the broadcaster. “Street names are set for a very long time and are, therefore, carefully weighed.”

According to the spokesperson, changing a street name has “far-reaching consequences” for the municipality that has to adapt the systems and for locals. “All buildings with a house number on the street in question will be administratively moved, which will result in many costs and possible objections.” The rules for street names also state that if you name a street after a person, that person must have died at least ten years ago, with the exception of members of the royal family.