Penza, 11 March 2018. PenzaNews. According to estimates of PenzaNews, over 200 people participated in the rally for social justice, which featured leader of the movement Left Front Sergei Udaltsov and coordinator of the public movement of construction investors of Russia Igor Assanov and was held in Penza near the building of the former Rodina cinema on March 11 – a week before the presidential elections in Russia.

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Security measures at the venue of the public event were reinforced.

The territory of the square in front of Rodina was cordoned off with a red and white warning tape by the police. They allowed rally participants within the fenced territory only having examined them with metal detectors and checked the contents of their bags.

The participants included people of different ages including youth. Many came with children.

The protesters were holding flags of the Communist Party, Left Front, Homeless Regiment that united deceived construction investors, banners reading "Our hearts require changes!" and "Another world is possible! The Left Front" as well as posters reading "We are for nationalization!", "Let us say no to paid education!" and others.

Turning to those present at the rally coordinator of the Left Front in the Volga Federal District Sergei Padalkin noted that many social issues had matured in the city. As an example he mentioned the situation at the ZIF plant.

"The shops there are empty nowadays. People have been suing responsible officials for many years until now willing to get their salaries paid. An alarming situation emerges at Penza reinforcement plant, which is under observation. Former factory workers have not received their salaries for 8 months. Workers of the branch of the Moscow engineering plant [of special equipment] have not been paid for three or four months. And there are a lot of other issues of the kind," the opposition activist said.

In addition, Sergei Padalkin drew attention to the situation in the sector of communal services including deterioration of networks and frequent heating cuts in Penza last winter, as well as low salaries in a healthcare sector.

"Hundreds of people participate in rallies. The situation will worsen because it is impossible to live like this! People are tired of the poverty, of the lawlessness created by the power," he said.

In turn, coordinator of the public movement of construction investors of Russia Igor Assanov said that some of his supporters in the Moscow and Kirovsk regions as well as in Krasnodar Krai are under pressure.

However, according to him, the construction investors whose rights were violated should not give up but demand prosecution of perpetrators.

"Why is the minister of construction of the Penza region out of prison? When one is in jail, his work will be executed by another one," Igor Assanov noted.

Those who also spoke at the rally included civil activist, chairman of the board of the housing cooperative “Kosmos” Igor Alexeev, construction investor of the housing estate Na Strelbishchenskoy Dmitry Tsvetkov and first secretary of the Serdobsk district committee of the Communist Party Alexander Smirnov.

At the end of the event, the floor was given to Sergei Udaltsov, who was greeted by the audience chanting the name of the leader of the Left Front and applauding.

He asked what was the salary of those who were taking part in the rally near Rodina. The amounts of less than 20,000 roubles were heard.

"The same situation is observed in every region – I have been in a number of cities. 15, 13, 18 thousand roubles. This is poverty! This is a shame," he said emphasizing that at the same time salaries of officials are incommensurably larger.

The rally for social justice lasted about an hour.

As it was reported by Oleg Vikulov, section manager of the law violation prevention and civil and religious organizations issues department of the Penza city administration, who watched the rally, no violations were registered during the protest.