Sochi residents continue their protest actions against destruction of green zones

On May 15, Evgeniy Zakharov, a member of the initiative group in defence of the city-resort Sochi, held a picket in the Plane-Tree Alley in defence of the general-use green zone located near the "Philately" shop. From 3 to 6 p.m. he stood there with posters calling to protect the city-resort from developers and statements to stop the town-planning terrorism. As of May 15, the initiative group collected 4000 subscriptions demanding to remove the fence near the "Philately" and stop "destruction of the resort by illegal commercial constructions."

However, businessman Oskero, who had fenced about 0.1 hectare of the general-use green zone in the historical centre of Sochi in the Plane-Tree Alley for his private construction site, is in no haste to remove the fence. Moreover, public activists have noticed that at night they are felling unique trees.

In the meantime, as members of the initiative group report, law enforcers stay idle, and the authorities give no reaction to citizens' applications.

During his solitary picket, militiamen came up to Zakharov, but found no violations in the way he was picketing and behaving.

The militia could not explain why the general-use territory is still fenced, and at night green plantings disappear behind the fence. On that very day, the public lodged another application to the city UVD demanding to protect the disappearing plants from the Venchagov Corner and to find those already cut down.