Member of Sochi City Assembly pickets Mayoralty because of tree felling

On March 23-24, Lyudmila Shestak, a member of the Sochi City Assembly from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), held solo pickets at the city Mayoralty. According to her story, her protest was caused by the "negligent" attitude of Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov to the green plantings of the resort city.

"Pakhomov refuses to respond to the law, regulations and rights of citizens to the healthy environment. My repeated appeals to him to stop cutting exotic trees in the territory of children's centres in Krasnoarmeiskaya and Konstitutsii Streets, as well as in city parks, gave no effect," said the lady-deputy.

"On March 23 an unidentified company, helped by the police and hiding behind an illegal fence, cut all the greenery in the children's centre," Ms Shestak said, adding that the Mayor must interfere rather than ignore the problem itself and citizens' appeals.

Lyudmila Shestak is going to go on picketing the Mayoralty.

On March 24, local residents blocked the traffic of large vehicles in the children's centre, not allowing them to take away the felling residues and demanding from the police to draw up a protocol and calculate the damage caused to children's centre.

"Children who came out of the centre and saw the trees being cut down before their eyes, were all in tears – it is stressful for a child's psyche and a mockery over the rights of children," said Alla Kunina, a local resident.

"We are tired of spending our nights here, rushing at saws and axes of unknown offenders, risking our lives," said Andrei Noskov, another local resident.

Earlier, the Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov said that there was no threat to children's centres. According to his story, private investors were attracted for building the needed car parks.

"The city needs both – car parks and children's centres," Anatoly Pakhomov said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and noted that the administration has all the documents authorizing the tree felling, including judicial decisions.