Guitar against cutting

On Sunday, a rally-concert took place on Pushkin Square in the capital in defense of the Khimki forest, which, with the blessing of the Russian authorities, is being tried to be cut down for the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway. The matter seemed almost hopeless: the square was cordoned off by the police, the truck with the equipment never reached it - they stopped along the road, the musicians fought their way. The Polite Refusal group was never able to overcome the cordons.

According to the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate, about 700-800 people gathered near the Pushkin monument, not counting the police. By the way, the majority still came to support the defenders of the Khimki Forest, and not to listen to their favorite musicians. Moreover, this pleasure was available mainly to journalists who managed to break into the front ranks.

“The car that was carrying all our amplifiers and other equipment was detained somewhere along the road, and the driver’s license was taken away,” the presenter of the concert, Artemy Troitsky, reported the situation. “So she disappeared somewhere along the way.”

Yuri Shevchuk, who was the first to arrive at Pushka, congratulated the riot police as the most active participants in the marches of dissent and performed “Autumn” and “Motherland”, standing on a metal stepladder, kindly donated for the sake of a just cause by one of the television cameramen. A little later, a working swearing machine was found, one of the defenders of the Khimki forest brought a headset and a mini-amplifier - at least some sound appeared.

As it turned out, the authorities are afraid not only of dissenters, but also of environmentalists. Throughout the entire event, while the performances of the musicians were interspersed with the chanting of slogans in defense of the forest, the feeling that mass loading into the party vans, which surrounded the square in a tight ring, was about to begin. Especially when there were calls to build a bypass route – through Rublyovka. But this time no one was harmed by the actions of the police.

Opposite the Pushkin monument, Nashi buses shone comically with all the colors of the rainbow, aggravating the already tense traffic. On their sides were the inscriptions “If you want to help the Khimki forest, come with us!” However, there were no takers during the entire three hours that the action lasted. It ended with a mass performance of the song “A Christmas Tree was Born in the Forest.” Artemy Troitsky considered this song to be very environmentally friendly. True, the last verse about the tragic fate of the tree was never sung.

Photo report from the scene by Alexander Alyoshkin