Social network users support protest against development of park near Lake Ak-Gyol in Dagestan

Dagestani authorities have ignored townspeople's statements in defence of the park area near Lake Ak-Gyol; activists have stated in connection with the laying of a stone at the construction site of the temple in the park. Instagram* users have supported the call to build the temple elsewhere.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 1, Arsen Magomedov, a lawyer and an activist of the "City Is Ours" movement, reported that unknown people were trying to resume the construction of the temple in the park near Lake Ak-Gyol in Makhachkala. On the same day, the Makhachkala Mayoralty announced that the attempt to build the temple had been stopped.

On December 6, Yuri Chaika, the Russian President's Envoy for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), arrived in Makhachkala to take part in the stone-laying ceremony for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Temple Ak-Gyol Park, the "Chernovik" outlet has reported.

The "City Is Ours" movement has issued a statement against the development of the park zone. Many commentators have also called for the temple to be built in some other place.

"We are not against the temple; let them build it, but elsewhere, not in the park. We need the park, as there's nowhere to walk in this city," the user pochtalon_stechkin has written.

Let us remind you that the first mention of Lake Ak-Gyol is found in the sources of the 18th century. The lake could become an attraction centre for tourists and citizens, as a place where one can stroll along the embankment or sit in the silence of the lakeside park, Yana Martirosova, a local guide, has stated.