Police on Monday started dispersing a protest camp near Moscow set up by environmental activists fighting to stop a forest from being chopped down for a new road development, an activist said.
The camp at Tsagovsky forest has been closed off after police swooped on the site this morning, Nikolai Kachnov said.
“Police and local administration officials are hauling away camp property right now,” Kachnov told RIA Novosti. “They cite an official instruction prohibiting mass events at the forest because of the start of a period associated with fire risks.”
Activists had gathered at the site to halt a project to cut down 14 hectares of the forest to make way for a new highway which the authorities say is needed to ease access to an annual air show near the town of Zhukovsky. Part of the woodland has already been cleared.
Four protesters were detained as they attemped to stop police from breaking up the campsite on Friday, officials said.
Dozens of activists have been detained amid clashes since the camp was set up last month.