Armed men seize phones from participants of public discussions in Odesa region

Armed men in civilian clothes, who called themselves local self-defense, took away the phones and filming equipment of activist Vladyslav Balynskyi and employees of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park Ivan Rusev and Iryna Vykhrystiuk.

Vladyslav Balynskyi said that these people had illegally detained him and the national park employees in the reception of the head of the community for more than two hours.

According to him, public hearings on the strategic environmental assessment and the master plan of the city of Vilkovo were held in Vilkovo.

"It is particularly disturbing that these individuals had contacted the head of the Vilkovo community, Matviy Ivanov, immediately before the hearings. They were obviously waiting for us and began to obstruct the filming during our substantive questions. Only social workers and the head's subordinates were in the room. Everything was happening under the direct threat of armed pressure, which completely discredits the legitimacy of the hearings both in form and content," the activist said.

Instead, the police of the Intent reported that no one had appealed to the district police department in the city of Vilkovo, but the police are currently planning to check the information about the incident.

Meanwhile, electronic public discussions on renaming two streets, a lane and a park in Odesa, which had been ongoing since May 1, ended on July 1 with the citizens supporting the renaming of the three place names. They did not support the proposal to rename Kanatny Lane in Odesa's Prymorskyi district after Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. 169 out of 503 people who took part in the poll voted for the renaming, while 334 voted against it.

The citizens agreed to name the park at the corner of Fontanska Road and Lesia Ukrainka Avenue (formerly Gagarin Avenue) after Lesia Ukrainka, and the mayor's office is also discussing the issue of erecting a monument to the poet there.

Кирило Бойко