Earth Equity News

Police Detain Moscow Forest Activists. By Nataliya Vasilyeva, AP, July 23, 2010. "Russian police detained two journalists and 15 protesters at a suburban Moscow forest [on July 23] where they have been living to try to protect the woods from destruction. The activists and the journalists were taken to the city of Khimki, where a court will decide if they should be arrested or freed, Yaroslav Nikitenko, an activist for the Environmental Defense of Moscow Region organization, said in a telephone interview... The forest in Khimki has been the focus of controversy for years over plans to chop down much of it for highway construction. Khimki lies on the increasingly jammed route from Moscow to Sheremetyevo International Airport and St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. A local newspaper editor who reported extensively on the issue was severely beaten in 2008 and left wheelchair-bound and brain-damaged… Environmental protesters have become increasingly vocal in Russia in the recent years."