Anapa residents demand to cancel public hearings on Utrish road project

Today, the city of Anapa was to hold public hearings on the project "Forest Anti-Fire Road in the Anapa District Forestry", where the customer is the Department of Forestry of the Krasnodar Territory.

The ecologists believe that last winter's realization of this project inflicted an enormous damage to the Utrish ecological systems and  was stopped only due to civil resistance, organized by the activists of the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus and the Movement "Let's Save Utrish!"

Ecologists state that the would-be today's discussions were organized with roughest violations of the legislation and civil rights. That is why, the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus stands for cancelling them and postponement till elimination of all these violations. This is stated in the Watch's statement that arrived to the "Caucasian Knot".

Ecologists have already sent their official applications to the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory and administration of the city of Anapa. Suren Gazaryan, a board member of the Ecological Watch, lodged a suit on his behalf demanding to oblige the Forestry Department to acquaint the public with the project and postpone the hearings. The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) of Russia has also announced the illegality of public hearings and the need to postpone them.

Residents of Anapa also supported the demand of ecological organizations to cancel and postpone the hearings. They gathered about 500 signatures under the address to the commission on holding public debates on the road project.

Today, the pickets in defence of the Utrish will take place in Anapa, Moscow, St Petersburg, Krasnodar, Maikop, Ekaterinburg and Apatity (Murmansk Region).