Russian grassroots democracy? Park-goers rally against church land grabs.
On a recent Sunday in Torfyanka Park, in a densely populated suburb near the northern edge of Moscow, a familiar ritual of confrontation is taking place.
The sun shines in this small patch of greenery with a circular pond at its heart. Dozens of people have gathered at a fenced compound that houses a 24-hour guard station and a large wooden cross, erected by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). But the people aren’t here to pray. Rather, they are here to protest that the compound is on the park grounds at all.
Four years ago, the ROC claimed Torfyanka Park as the site for a new church – a move broadly opposed by locals who value the rare green space that the park offers the community. While local officials offered alternative sites for a new church that the ROC accepted, the compound remains intact, spurring the protests to continue. Their
An expanding church‘This is not a religious conflict’‘This park is all we have’
