Ahead of elections, St. Petersburg officials withdraw protest permit issued to opponents of Russian pension reform

City officials in St. Petersburg have withdrawn a permit issued for a September 9 protest against the Russian government’s plan to raise the country’s retirement age. The mayor’s office says a nearby water main burst, flooding a roadway that leads into Lenin Square, where the demonstration is scheduled to take place. The authorities say organizers can hold their rally at Udelny Park (about five miles farther from the city’s center), but any attempt to stage the event at Lenin Square will be treated as an illegal public assembly.

Organizers say they’re going ahead with plans to assemble at Lenin Square, pointing out that the damaged water pipe isn’t in the square itself and poses no obstacle. The activists also insist that they’ve already spent “a considerable sum of money” to promote a Sunday protest at Lenin Square. If City Hall refuses to honor its permit, organizers say they are prepared to go to court and demand compensation.

Supporters of the anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny are staging nationwide protests on September 9 against a plan endorsed by Vladimir Putin to raise Russia’s retirement age from 60 to 65 for men, and from 55 to 60 for women. Officials in Moscow refused to issue a permit for Navalny’s rally on September 9, which is also when millions of Russians will vote in local and regional elections. Navalny will miss both the protests and the election, as he’s currently serving a 30-day jail sentence for organizing an “unsanctioned protest” in January. His arrest last month was presumably timed to keep him off the streets for the September 9 events.