Polina and Cobra

The story of a fragile girl who went to defend her park from the construction of the stadium

In the Friendship Park, on the initiative of the Moscow City Hall, the construction of a football field with heating began. Residents against. From the end of August 2015, fights began. The authorities do not react. The construction continues.

With Polina Gershberg, the 28-year-old defender of the Friendship Park, living on Navyskaya Street, we met at a rally that local residents are now regularly arranged on the weekend near the “pit”-this is the name of the field, where the dogs had grown and walked, and now the bulldozer drives it; The pit is fenced with a metal fence, on the fence color posters "there will be a sport".

The Moscow government, in concerns of Muscovites, gave the territory of the park under a football field. Here they decided to build a branch of Luzhnikov - to the future World Cup. However, residents of the district are well aware of how such initiatives end: parking and residential complexes. Residents of the district declared a war on the construction - and installed night duty in the "pit", protecting themselves and their life from uninvited sport.

Polina is sitting on a folding chair, she is hard to stand: on the night of September 8, she, with other residents of nearby houses, tried to stop the bulldozer, who brought the soil into the "pit". As a result, Polina was beaten by security guards (private security company Kobr, hired by the developer, LLC “Magnum”) and received a concussion. A criminal case has been started. The bulldozer from the “pit” left.

On the night of October 8 , the fights began again : a dump truck drove into the park, taking the fence. "Cobra", this time there were at least fifteen people, began to beat the duty officers. Six people went to the hospital with injuries. Representatives of the developer claim that they do not know anything about the security enterprise "Cobra", nor about fights, nor about criminal cases and are built within the framework of the law.

The war in the Friendship Park is not the only Moscow war per park: there are more than two hundred of them today. In other parks, temples with hotels for pilgrims are being built. Polina Gershberg is a disabled person of the third group, oncomal in remission, today is one of the most active fighters per park. Without counting on any help, she wages her own little war with injustice:

“We are told how we need football. These words look funny against the background of the“ Torpedo ”and“ Dynamo ”buildings with residential complexes. In addition, the operation of the field in the park is impossible. If you read the rules for operating fields with heated and artificial coating, it turns out that the place is completely not suitable for such a construction. Since everything that is prohibited is prohibited, the slope, trees. In addition, capital construction. The architecture is impossible in principle, when the championships will pass and the hysteria will subside - we love this park to the end.