16:52, 21 February 2004

Moscow: no meeting on day in memory of genocide of Chechen people, but placement of flowers

On February 17, the Moscow Mayor's Office banned the meeting to commemorate victims of the war, to protest against it, and to urge a political settlement of the Russian-Chechen conflict that was planned to be held at the memorial stone on Lubyanskaya Square in Moscow on February 23. This decision of the Mayor's Office will be appealed judicially by the meeting organizers. They called upon the Muscovites to come to the memorial stone at noon to lay flowers and commemorate thousands of people who were killed 60 years ago and are being killed at war today by a minute's silence.

On February 23, meetings, conferences, concerts, film showings, and demonstrations will be held in Saint-Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ryazan, Kazan, Apatity, Samara, Perm, Saratov, Rome, Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm, Prague, Washington, New-York, Boston, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Vilnius, and other cities of the world.

Editors note: See also the article "Statement by Olivier Dupuis in connection with ban on meeting timed to 60th anniversary of deportation of Chechens".

Source: Antiwar Club (Moscow, Russia)