St. Petersburg authorities canceled another rally against pension reform

The administration of St. Petersburg canceled the previously issued agreement to hold a rally on September 16 against the "pension robbery" on Lenin Square near the Finland Station. about this on Facebook . writes Boris Vishnevsky, deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly from the Yabloko party,

According to the politician, on September 10, the city authorities announced that it was impossible to hold a public rally at the place chosen by the opposition due to the fact that a pipe had burst there and repairs were underway. Vishnevsky notes that the entire Lenin Square "is tightly fenced, although work is being carried out only in one of its corners."

The organizing committee of the united opposition was offered to move the rally to Udelny Park. The rally organizers refused to move the rally venue and demanded that the repair work be interrupted or that a site be provided in the center of St. Petersburg. In the event that this is not done, the opposition will hold an unsanctioned rally in the city center.

“At first it was reported that the work would be completed by September 13 <…>. Now it has been announced that the work will be completed only by September 30 - meanwhile, a rally of the united opposition has been scheduled for September 16, which included almost everyone, from Yabloko, Parnassus and Open Russia, to the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Party of Growth and LDPR. The communists are ready to join. The cunning of the authorities is obvious: the accident site is located at one end of the square (on the corner with Komsomol Street), and the place where the rallies are planned is at the opposite end,” writes Vishnevsky.

• The action against raising the retirement age, which took place on September 9 in St. Petersburg, was also first agreed on at Lenin Square. Two days before the action, the authorities of St. Petersburg withdrew the agreement - again due to a burst water pipe. Supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny held an event in the city center.
• On September 9, protests were held in many Russian cities against raising the retirement age. According to the OVD-Info project, more than a thousand people were detained on them. Of these, more than 623 people are in St. Petersburg.