In the evening on June 2, 2009, over 500 activists participated in the protest action for the protection of Bitsevsky Forest against construction of a cafe on a safeguarded territory.
The constructors had made a fence around the plot and put cabins for workers despite the absence of any allowances for construction works in the green zone.
The residents expressed their indignation by the construction works in the green zone protected by law. The residents also voiced their concern that a cafe selling alcoholic drinks would be built in proximity to schools and kindergartens. The participants of the meeting said that construction of such a cafe would worsen the criminal situation in the area.
The meeting expressed their indignation to the Prefect’s Office and the local board of the area for giving their agreement on construction of a cafe in the Bitsevsky Forest. Deputy of the Moscow City Duma and leader of the YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin who participated in the action called such acts of the officials “an ecological crime”. According to Mitrokhin, it is “inadmissible to give a plot of a safeguarded territory under a construction site.” He also noted that the construction company had not obtained an allowance from the Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection. On the opposite the head of the Department Leonid Bochin forwarded a letter to the construction company explaining that the plot in question was part of a safeguarded territory Bitsevsky Forest protected in accordance with Resolution of the Moscow Government ¹824-PP from October 24, 2006, and therefore, any construction works are prohibited there.
On June 3 at the meeting of the Moscow Duma Mitorkhin is going to voice his inquiry to the Public Prosecutor of Moscow Yu. Syomin demanding to conduct immediate investigation of unlawful construction and take appropriate measures.
At the end of the meeting the participants agreed that protest actions against unlawful construction on a safeguarded territory should continue.
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Yabloko for Environmental Safety
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