Moscow authorities ban protest against Stalin metro sculpture, citing COVID-19 restrictions
The Moscow Central Administrative District’s prefecture has denied permission for a series of solo pickets planned by the Yabloko party to protest a newly installed wall sculpture of Joseph Stalin at Taganskaya metro station, according to Kirill Goncharov, deputy head of the party’s Moscow branch.
The pickets were scheduled for July 3 on Taganskaya Square. In its response, the prefecture cited the “current epidemiological situation” and the state of heightened alert in Moscow, introduced by mayoral decree in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
That state of alert, which includes a ban on public gatherings, was established by Mayor Sergey Sobyanin in June 2020 and has never been formally lifted. City officials continue to invoke it as grounds to block opposition protests.
The restored Stalin sculpture at Taganskaya Station was unveiled in mid-May to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Moscow Metro. The original version was installed at the station when it opened in 1950 and removed shortly after Stalin’s death.
