On May 22, a rally organized by the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Pentecostal Christians "Emmanuel" took place in Moscow. The Pentecostals protested against the refusal of the city authorities to allocate them two plots of land for the construction of prayer houses (in Solntsevo and on Vernadsky Avenue). Believers regarded this as a violation of their rights. "Our task is to teach people how to fight for their rights," said Alexander Purshaga, senior pastor of the "Emmanuel" church, speaking at the rally.

On May 28, another rally of Evangelical Christians took place on Pushkinskaya Square. As the NewsInfo website reported, the protesters distributed leaflets, which, in particular, said: "We protest against the permissiveness of the arbitrariness of officials, against propaganda and incitement of inter-religious hatred, against discrimination against the rights of believers who do not belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. We demand the return of the seized land and not interfere building protestant churches.

On May 30, the Pentecostals tried to hold another picket (which they promptly notified the authorities about), but it was dispersed by the police.

Sources

Participants of the rally in Moscow - adherents of the Emmanuel Church - believe that the rights of Protestants are being violated in the capital // Interfax. 2005. May 22.
Protestant Christians rally in the center of Moscow // NewsInfo. 2005. May 28.

Pentecostal protests against the actions of city officials