15:15, 21 June 2008

Sochi residents ask to preserve Imereti Valley

Today, after the rally held in Sochi, the residents of this resort city have addressed their letter to the leadership of Russia, Corporation "Olympstroy" and Public Chamber of Russia with a request to keep the territory of the Imereti Lowland untouched.

The sanctioned protest rally, organized by the people whose houses are to be destroyed because of construction of Olympic objects, brought together about 200 persons. The action was held in the place, where the first symbolic stone had been laid down when the construction of the 2014 Winter Olympic objects.

According to Natalia Kalinovskaya, the organizer of the rally, the residents of the Imereti Valley have no reliable information about exact placement of Olympic objects. "We are not against Olympiad, we are against resettling," the RIA "Novosti" quoted Natalia Kalinovskaya as saying.

The meeting has passed calmly; just a couple of militiamen were watching the observance of public order. The participants wore T-shirts with a motto "I don't want to be a legitimated tramp," the "Interfax" reports.