Greens protested on Red Square

Yesterday on Red Square, members of the environmental organization Greenpeace held an action against the dumping of nuclear waste in Russia.

The organizers of the protest gathered journalists on Pushkin Square and for a very long time kept secret where the protest itself would take place. After 15 minutes it turned out that we had to go down Tverskaya Street to the Moscow Hotel. Near the hotel, activists said that now they had to go “there” and waved their hand towards Red Square. Journalists writing lightly and even television crews with cameras obediently followed the Greenpeace people. Near GUM, environmentalists began distributing leaflets in the form of a letter to the president, which had to be signed and sent to the Kremlin. No one did this; everyone was tensely waiting for something and looking at the square.
And finally events began to develop, and very quickly. About 15 people right in the crowd of people walking instantly changed into white overalls with the inscription “Greenpeace” and rushed to the fir trees to the right of the Mausoleum. There, men in white unfurled yellow banners with the words “President, stop the nuclear movement” and “There is still a chance.” Two young people dressed as newlyweds were holding a yellow poster symbolizing radiation. The first to react were photographers and television crews with cameras, who ran to the Christmas trees. The police could barely keep up with them. Employees of the Kitay-Gorod police department carefully tried to take away the Greenpeace posters. Conservationists did not give in; the banners crackled and tore. And the people in white, instantly finding themselves on the square, began to pretend that they were just walking, but after a few minutes they formed a ring, in which there were already about 30 people, and unfurled a new poster. The crowd of walking Muscovites and guests of the capital was immediately divided into sympathizers and opponents. Sympathizers, holding hands, joined Greenpeace, forming a long line, stood along GUM and began chanting: “No to the import of nuclear waste!”
The police walked around the square in groups, hesitant. Some man in civilian clothes with a walkie-talkie yelled at them: “Boys! Are you just going to walk around like four of us? Split into different corners and turn everything around.”
And the people in white disappeared as imperceptibly as they had appeared. They were taken to the nearest police station on Ilyinka. Lawyer Alexey Minchin immediately appeared and explained to everyone that, according to Article 166 part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, detained Greenpeace members face a fine of up to five minimum wages or up to two months of correctional labor with a deduction of 20% of earnings, “but in general, according to the law, they are not They have the right to keep them there for more than three hours, now they will draw up a report and release them.”
ELENA Kommersant-VANSOVICH

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 112 dated June 29, 2001, p. 7

Greenpeace showed up, but not for long