In the Russian city of Ryazan, children staged an improvised protest in defense of their School No 6, whose building the court says shall be handed to a Ryazan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
MK.RU, referring to the News of Ryazan VKontakte platform, says two local girls took a stand, going out for a rally, holding hand-written signs “School is my second home” and “I don’t want to switch my knowledge ship.”
https://rzn.mk.ru/social/2021/06/11/v-ryazani-deti-vyshli-na-piket-v-zashhitu-shkoly-6.html
It shall be recalled that in late October 2020, ROC’s Ryazan Metropolitan Mark (Golovkov) claimed School No 6’s premises were supposed to be regained by Church as they once hosted a seminary.
Ryazan legislator Denis Sidorov and a large group of local residents stood up in school’s defense, arguing this is the only educational facility in the region where French is taught to children.
However, on June 4, the Arbitration Court of Ryazan Region ruled to hand the school building to the Russian Orthodox Church.
On June 8, Ryazan lawmaker Alexei Zakharov staged a solo protest outside the regional diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The deputy voiced discontent with the court’s move and held out a sign saying “ROC, where’s your dignity? Don’t take the school from children! Ryazan won’t forgive you for that!”
On June 11, Ryazan has become the second city in Russia where teenagers took part in a rally against property encroachments by the ROC. Earlier, residents of Novosibirsk held a protest against a new church construction by the ROC at the site where a vibrant playground used to serve the community.
Together with the adults, the rally some children attended the rally, holding up signs with the calls to allow the playground to stay in place so that they could further keep playing street football, basketball, and volleyball.
