Thousands of Muscovites joined a protest rally in the center of the Russian capital on Sunday | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

From Reuters:

Thousands of Muscovites joined a protest rally in the center of the Russian capital on Sunday against government plans to resettle millions of citizens from shoddy Soviet-era apartment blocks. The draft law on renovation envisages moving some Muscovites into modern flats but has also fueled concerns about property rights, a year after city authorities provoked an outcry among small businesses by bulldozing many street kiosks.

Moscow residents are also concerned about the location and quality of the planned new accommodation, a lack of services and infrastructure and about threats the redevelopment may pose to the historic face of the Russian capital.

And according to the Guardian:

Activists’ main complaint is that the programme is mostly about money, and both developers and the city stand to make a handy profit. They point to a recent example of a partially completed programme started in 1999 to replace 1,722 five-storey buildings. For that scheme, the city contracted private developers, who built new tower blocks, set aside 30% of the apartments to resettle residents of the old buildings, and sold the rest. Vedomosti quoted a source in the mayor’s office as saying the new programme will free up a large number of land plots that will be sold to investors at auction.