21:13, 9 September 2023

Law enforcers limit themselves to warning those detained at protest rally in Dagestan

Law enforcers at a protest action held in the Kumtorkala District. Screenshot of the video by the "Caucasian Knot" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D9j_LsRt_g

Policemen decided not to draw up protocols against the opponents of the garbage dump detained at a protest action held in the Kumtorkala District, and limited themselves to a warning, said activist, Shamil Khadulaev. The detentions were conducted without any use of force, another protester has added.

On September 7, Shamil Khadulaev, who is also the chairman of the coordination council of Dagestani NGOs, reported that all the eight persons detained at the protest action had been released from the police station.

On September 6, the "Sarykum" Hotel hosted a presentation of the system for disposing municipal solid wastes. It was accompanied by local residents' protest against the construction of a landfill near the Sarykum Dune. Sergey Melikov, the head of Dagestan, has treated the protests as provocation, stating that some economic interests were behind the calls to prevent the construction of the landfill.

Let us remind you that on April 17, 2023, residents of the village of Novaya Urada held a protest action, claiming that the landfill would cause damage to the Sarykum Dune, which is part of the Dagestani Nature Reserve and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The residents of Dagestan, mobilized for the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, recorded a video message to Melikov with a demand to move the construction of the landfill to another location.

Sarykum Dune is the largest sand dune in Europe; it was used for filming "The White Sun of the Desert," says the website "MoiDagestan".

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 9, 2023 at 07:22 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Oleg Ionov

Source: СK correspondent