The mayor of a town outside Moscow faces off against a district official

The mayor of Volokolamsk, Pyotr Lazarev, has rejected a request by the district’s acting head, Andrey Vikharev, to reject all permit request for public demonstrations between April 23 and May 27. Vikharev said the suspension of protests is necessary to accommodate a series of outdoor markets planned in the city’s center. Mayor Lazarev says the markets are a ploy to disrupt demonstrations against the local over-capacity landfill, which has been leaking hydrogen sulfide into the air for months.

“Honestly, everyone in Volokolamsk is sick of these markets,” Lazarev complained, saying that they happen too often and bring in outside vendors who take away business from the city’s own shops. Lazarev has already issued permits for pickets and protests from April 26 to 30, and from May 2 to 4.