Posted on 06/20/2006 2:28:26 PM PDT by sergey1973
A ramshackle plywood house on a plot worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on the edge of Moscow is at the center of a fierce battle that is pitting its residents and several federal officials against the seemingly omnipotent Moscow government.
The outcome promises to show how far and for how long politicians are ready to support a real grassroots protest. The case could also help raise the status of the Public Chamber as a defender of public interests.
"This is the barbaric persecution of us here. My mom had to be treated by doctors and is now resting at the neighbors' after two sleepless nights," Mikhail Prokofyev, a 19-year-old student, said Tuesday. The frail house he shares with his mother in the village of Butovo, located some five kilometers south of the Moscow Ring Road, barely escaped being razed by authorities a day earlier.
Dozens of villagers whose houses were targeted for demolition fought off riot police officers and court marshals who tried to clear the way for bulldozers Monday. Television footage showed police clubbing and beating men and women, shocking viewers across the country
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
sounds like the US !
Just like Connecticut !
[sounds like the US !]
My first thought exactly.
New Orleans......
BTTT!!
No, the Rooskie peasants actually have some backbone there.
Are you sure this wasn't in communist Connecticut ????
Agreed and good for them.
Related:
FR Keyword Search: Eminentdomain
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1614929/posts
Eminent domain, communist Chinese-style
Looks like Moscow and New London, Connecticut are "sister cities."
Back in the good old days of Stalin if the government needed land they simply executed those unfortunate enough to live on it ... keeps things uncomplicated.
The USSR simply changed names, that's all.
What Yuri Mikhailovich wants, Yuri Mikhailovich gets. I wonder what enterprise owned by his wife is profiting from this move....
Luzhkov really feels he can do anything with impunity, especially if his wife enterprises are involved -:))))
The possible outcome of this shameful eviction attempt could be that Putin administration will get another argument in favor of appointing mayors from Kremlin rather than elect them as they did earlier with governors. Plus, Luzhkov and Putin are not exactly friends.
Obviously, it's not a solution to corruption of either Federal or local governments, but this case could be played into the hands of Putin clan further power grab. In the end, when rule of law is absent, it's ordinary people who pay the highest price.
I think this is more of a Luzhkov vs. Gromov (Moscow Oblast) battle. They've been battling on various issues - the latest was Luzhkov's attempt to fold the Moscow Oblast into Moscow's control. Gromov answered with a proposal to move most of the Federal Govt out of Moscow (something Putin allegedly favors). We shall see what happens.
As you are probably aware the "burbs" outside of Moscow are becoming the homesites for the business and entertainment "elite" - which is probably why these people are being evicted. Two buildings next to the apartment building I lived in downtown Moscow were razed to make way for a shopping center. However, the buildings were decripit and the people living in them got far better housing, albiet not in the city center.
Eminent Domain?
Yep--sounds like it -:))))
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.