Large rallies were held in many Russian cities on Saturday, including Murmansk. The demonstrators gathered signatures for a petition asking President Dmitri Medvedev to cancel Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s decree allowing the plant to restart and by that pollute the lake Baikal.
Another slogan was calling for the resignation of Vladimir Putin. During the demonstration in Murmansk the ecologists collected 300 signatures protesting the reopening of the Baikal plant.
The pollution of the Lake Baikal has been one of the main environmental battles in Russia since the 1960ties.
In January, the police raided the offices of the environmental group Baikal Wave, a move that the environmentalists said was likely prompted by their protests against the reopening of the pulp and paper mill.
Last week, BarentsObserver reported that Russian environmental groups face an increased pressure from different authorities.
