Bazaar character

The closure of the Cherkizovsky market turns into acts of disobedience

The hasty implementation of the highest political will could backfire on the Moscow authorities. The closure of the Cherkizovsky market in the capital is fraught with an explosive situation and a surge in crime, the leaders of the Federation of Migrants of Russia (FMR) said at the end of last week. This organization, which unites representatives of diasporas from China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Afghanistan and other countries, has calculated that at the moment more than 100 thousand people working in the market find themselves without a livelihood and the ability to feed their families. Now the leaders of the FMR, hoping for a “reasonable response from the authorities,” are trying to independently keep the situation under control: they are trying to provide traders with hotel beds and food. But so far, out of the entire vertical of Russian power, migrants have only managed to attract the attention of the Public Chamber. Members of the OP appealed to the director of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, with a request, as an exception, to legalize guest workers from the Cherkizovsky market and issue them temporary registration to stay in Russia, so as not to inflame passions.

“We receive massive requests from the poor, from migrants to whom the market provided a means of subsistence. “According to our data, more than 100 thousand people worked at the market,” Moroccan El Aarabi Rachid, chairman of the FMR Committee on Business and Economics, said at a meeting with reporters on Friday, warning that “the current explosive situation could lead to an increase in crimes.” Moreover, as the events of recent days show, these crimes can be completely unexpected. Small entrepreneurs are now forced to stand guard near the market, hoping to still pick up confiscated goods to sell them at other retail outlets in the city. Their patience is not unlimited, as shown by the events of July 9, when about 1.5 thousand people (mostly Chinese, according to the capital’s police department) decided to return their goods, taking the market by storm. As a result, 184 people were detained.

While supporting small traders and noting the importance of the Cherkizovsky market, which “clothed and shod millions of Russians, was one of the first in Moscow and even in Russia,” the leaders of the FMR still speak rather negatively about the large business that controlled this trading platform. The FMR directly links the problems of illegal migrants working in the market with the criminal actions of a group of businessmen who, “using the support of corrupt officials, organized smuggling channels” that brought in huge profits for many years. “No taxes were paid to the federal treasury. Most of the workers were not registered,” admitted El Rashid, saying that the FMR agreed with the government’s decision “to restore order in the market.” “It’s time to stop the activities of the criminal community,” he cried.

Under the same slogan, the authorities began a Cherkizov-style campaign against business. More than a month ago, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin personally shared his knowledge of the smuggling situation at Cherkizovsky: “Look, there are still $2 billion worth of goods in one of the markets. They haven’t been destroyed yet, and there are no owners.” After these words, we didn’t have to wait long for a reaction from law enforcement agencies. Due to violations of sanitary standards, the market was closed on June 29, and on July 7, the Izmailovsky Court of Moscow suspended the market for three months. At the moment, inspections are being carried out there by Rospotrebnadzor, the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FMS.

However, supporting the actions of the authorities, FMR President Majumder Muhammad Amin (Bangladesh) notes the rush to close the market. “People working in the market were not warned to look for work. There was no warning for small businesses either,” he complained. Mr. Amin noted that in addition to visitors from foreign countries, a large number of Russians worked at the market. “The authorities must somehow provide employment for those who live in Russia legally,” said FMR President Majumder Amin. The authorities and social activists are calling on the authorities and social activists to show at least some concern for migrants, including illegal ones. The Chairman of the Commission on Interethnic Relations of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Svanidze, on Friday evening addressed the Director of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, with a request, as an exception, to legalize illegal migrants and issue them temporary registration to stay in Russia.

Now the migrant federation is trying to keep former market workers near closed trading areas so that “the people are not scattered throughout the city.” For people who lost their livelihood, they even organized a field kitchen, which, however, was immediately closed due to the lack of sanitary and epidemiological permits.

It is noteworthy that the events of the past weekend showed that the spread of traders and workers of the Cherkizovsky market throughout Moscow is fraught with conflicts on other trading floors. On Saturday, workers at the Sadovod wholesale and retail trade center expressed dissatisfaction with the events in Cherkizovo. They threatened the authorities with protests, including blocking roads, if they did not stop the “occupation” of the trading areas of their market by colleagues from Cherkizovsky. “All available space is filled with huge containers from the Cherkizovsky market, and territories, retail outlets and repair boxes, rented mainly by Russians, are hastily demolished or closed to make way for tenants from China,” Interfax quotes one of the Sadovod sellers as saying "

Vyacheslav KOZLOV