Five participants in the rally in defense of the Pulkovo Observatory were detained in St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg, on the Field of Mars, police detained five activists who were holding a performance in defense of the Pulkovo Observatory. This was told to OVD-Info by one of the detainees Sergei Lunts.

With the help of the performance, the activists wanted to show that the Ministry of Culture had buried the Pulkovo Observatory.

According to Lunts, after the participants of the performance began to distribute equipment to each other, the police approached them.

They said that all five allegedly pass through the orientation and look like suspects. The police detained Oleg Rusakov, Svetlana Perfilyeva, Natalya Savkina, Sergei Lunts and Olesya Chernyavskaya.

All five were taken to the 78th police department. Scissors and all steel objects were confiscated from the activists.

The detained activists oppose the construction of the second stage of a residential complex next to the Pulkovo Observatory. They believe that the construction is illegal because it is being carried out next to a protected UNESCO site. The authorities of St. Petersburg banned the activists from holding a rally, and therefore they decided to turn the rally into a "theatrical scene."

UPD 16:49 The detainees were released from the police department without drawing up detention protocols. Props for a theatrical production were confiscated from them: a coffin and T-shirts. The detainees were given an obligation to appear on December 17 at the 78th police department.