Arkhangelsk Protesters Take the Next Step and On Their Own Destroy a Wall Officials Put Up

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 25 – A turning point in the Yekaterinburg protests was when officials felt compelled to pull down a wall they had erected around what they expected to be the construction site of a new cathedral in the city’s main square. Now, the people of Arkhangelsk region have gone further: they’ve torn down such a wall on their own. 

            Today, as they have for many days and especially on weekends in recent weeks, the people near Shiyes where officials want to establish a dump for trash from Moscow assembled to protest such plans (svpressa.ru/blogs/article/233591/). They have been especially outraged that Russian officials have put up walls around what is to be a trash disposal site.

            “Here such walls must not be,” local residents posted on social media (vk.com/wall-29913030_211622), and today, they acted on that conviction, tearing down the wall on their own while police stood by and watched, probably in horror that the population was taking such matters into its own hands (region.expert/shies-photo/).

            In reporting this watershed development, the Region.Expert portal includes what it describes as a new example of “Shiyes folklore.”  “We are gaining in number every moment,” the people there are saying. “We steadfastly move toward victory in the struggle with the Moscow yoke. Pomorye [the name of the larger region] is not a cesspool.”