More than 3,000 people attended a protest rally in Russia’s Far East city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Saturday over plans to further cut the time difference between the region and Moscow.
As part of plans for President Dmitry Medvedev’s reform of the country’s time zones, the Kamchatka region did not switch over to summer time earlier this year along with the rest of Russia. As a result, the time difference with Moscow was cut to eight from nine hours. It is expected that the difference will be shortened by one more hour.
Despite the bad weather, protestors flocked to the city’s central square, chanting slogans such as “Give us our time back!
The changes have already meant that it begins to get dark in the middle of the day in the region in the winter months. Opponents of the reforms say the changes have an adverse effect on the health of local residents.
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, December 11 (RIA Novosti)
