Authorities in the flood-hit southern Russian town of Krymsk have ordered a volunteer camp to move out of the center, prompting claims from the volunteers that the real motive is to get rid of eyewitnesses to the clean-up effort, several Russian media reported on Wednesday.
The camp was set up on July 9, two days after torrential downpours hit Krymsk, killing at least 171 people, according to the Russian Emergencies Ministry. One of the town's central squares housed the camp and the location was approved by the authorities. About 350 activists were camping there, coordinator Oleg Melnikov told Moskovsky Komsomolets.
“Authorities are uninterested that people who could directly convey information about the clean-up effort in the town and could ask the residents how they get their compensations remain in Krymsk,” camp coordinator Alyona Popova told the RBK-daily newspaper on Wednesday.
“Now the town is being cleansed bit by bit from eyewitnesses. The situation has stabilized, the time of PR has come, and the authorities do not want to share it with independent people,” ecologist Suren Gazaryan told RBK-daily on Wednesday.
Officials said local residents have complained that the camp had occupied the entire square and hinders them from walking and resting in the public area, Gazeta.ru daily reported. Sanitary services have also exposed hygiene problems in the camp.
Officials cited hygiene issues as the main reason to move the camp, its coordinator Yevgenia Smorchkova told the Vedomosti daily. “But talking to us unofficially they tried to make us understand that they no longer need us.”
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