Epress.am News from Armenia
Seven people were arrested during a rally protesting the construction of a new waste management center in Sochi.
Learning about construction work for this new center, more than 500 residents of the Armenian-populated Vardane township, where the proposed center is to be built, gathered in the area where the waste will be processed, and attempted to hinder the equipment installation process.
Specially called in riot police, 30 police vehicles and 3 ambulances arrived on the scene. The riot police begun to push and pull protestors, a few of whom they arrested, reports LiveKuban.ru, a news source covering Russia’s Krasnodar region.
The waste management center will process and recycle more than 300,000 tons of waste. In May 2010, Sochi city representatives had announced plans of a building necessary to implement this project, which will take up 11.2 hectares of land in Vardane township.
According to the town’s residents, the area where the garbage will be dumped doesn’t meet environmental standards and is too close to residential homes. And in the case of precipitation, nearby rivers and springs will be polluted. Hundred of trucks carrying waste will pass through the township. The town’s water supply is also threatened, and the probability of infectious diseases is another consequence of the proposed waste management center.