Russian Rallies Hinder Ambulances

Political rallies in downtown Moscow are an obstacle to ambulances, whose average arrival time is almost three minutes longer during street events than on regular days, city medics said. The lost time can be crucial in case of clinical death, the city’s Health Department said, Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported on Tuesday. Medics also complained about having to reserve ambulances and hospital beds for protesters in case of “incidents resulting in injuries,” the report said. To avoid such problems, the number of rallies should be cut, and the approved ones moved to suburban venues, possibly outside the Moscow Ring Road that forms the city’s outer rim, the Health Department said. Other utilities and emergency services in the city also complained about problems caused by political rallies, a string of which, both in support and against the government, took place in the city’s center between December and March, most attracting tens of thousands. Most rallies were staged by the opposition, which managed to obtain permits for its events from Moscow authorities, which have been reluctant to give such sanctions in the past, when turnout usually stood in the hundreds. Media said earlier that City Hall is considering tightening city legislation on rallies and even seeking to amend federal legislation on the matter. Deputy Mayor Alexander Gorbenko, who oversaw negotiations with organizers of recent rallies, said on Monday the law needs to be revised, but not tightened. City Hall proposed in February to create a Russian analogue of London’s Hyde Park, allocating a special venue for public rallies, but the opposition spoke against it, saying that could result in political activity being banned from everywhere else in the capital, which houses hundreds of public events a year, according to Moscow officials.