Vladikavkaz: about 30 persons hold picket against operation of "Electrozink"

About 30 persons gathered in Victory Square in Vladikavkaz to attend the last rally, organized by the initiative group "Electrozink. What do we breathe?" against the activities of the factory.

The participants of the protest action were carrying balloons and posters with slogans reading: "Stop, Electrozink!", "Health of nation is more important than any money, not only 'Electrozink' provides jobs", "Save us and future generations of Ossetia!", "Factory out of city!", "Penalty for poisoning!", "Enough deaths for small Ossetia!"

According to German Revazov, the organizer of the protest action, the enterprise initiative group "Electrozink. What do we breathe?" held the picket against the activities of the factory for the last time.

Zalina Kesaeva, the participant of the picket and the member of the NGO "Novoe Delo" (New Business), commented on that decision. "This is our last picket. This is our general opinion, since pickets do not gather a lot of people, they are not mass events, and, therefore, they cannot affect the situation. Thus, we decided to conduct no more pickets. No one, except us, needs that. So far, we have no further plans," said the activist.

According to Madina Djussoeva, the participant of the picket and one of the organizers of the protest action, every month they hold protest actions to attract attention.

"They do not treat us as public representative, since they say that we are engaged. I guess I am really engaged by my children, relatives, and friends, for whom I come here. They do not contact us. We heard what we wanted from a representative of the Public Chamber that a factory of such a hazard class should not be situated in the centre; however, no constructive dialogue was achieved," stated Madina Djussoeva.

"We had been doing that for about three years, and we did what we could and what we could not. We got tired. We believe that we had done enough to have someone from social networks to release us from our work. There are a lot of interested people there. We have done enough to stir up that movement in general. And, at present, it is unlikely extinct, and we would like to hope that young people will just pick up the baton. Maybe, they will find some other ways and bring creative ideas," said Tatiana, the participant of the picket.

In their turn, representatives of the "Electrozink" Factory, claim that in 2012, the factory continued constructive cooperation with the Public Chamber of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and regularly reported on fulfilment of commitments to improve environmental conditions.