Petersburg, carriages with horses were temporarily banned from entering Palace Square

Harnessed carriages were banned from entering the territory of the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, reported TASS in the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The ban was introduced after a man tried to saddle a horse harnessed to a carriage on New Year’s holidays, frightened her, and she rushed into the crowd. Two children and their father were injured in the incident.

“On New Year’s holidays, a crime involving horse-drawn vehicles was committed in the indicated place … In this regard, in order to ensure the safety of citizens, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia decided to temporarily ban the presence of horse-drawn vehicles on Palace Square until the causes that led to illegal consequences were clarified and eliminated “, the message says.

The fact that harnessed carriages were no longer allowed on Palace Square, earlier today, February 1, was reported by “Fontanka” Alexander Ivakhnov, head of the VALKiT carriage rental company.

“After January 2, we are not allowed to work. We have a route that was developed on behalf of the Governor of St. Petersburg under Decree No. 904R of 1999 with stops and parking places where you can put and wait for passengers. One of them is Palace Square. But they simply don’t let us into it, ”the publication quotes the words of Mr. Ivakhnov.

The head of the rental company also noted that this ban creates significant parking difficulties, since drawn carriages are much larger than cars.

On January 2, at about 17:00 Moscow time, an incident occurred with a carriage drawn by two horses on Palace Square. The man jumped on one of the horses, the animal got scared and rushed towards the pedestrians. As a result, three people were injured: a 43-year-old man and his children – an 8-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. They are were delivered Petersburg hospital with moderate injuries.

On January 11, the police detained the perpetrator of the incident. It turned out to be a previously convicted 39-year-old mechanic Roman Maksimov. A criminal case has been opened against him for actions that threaten the safety of transport operation (Article 267.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). By decision of the St. Petersburg court, a man forbidden approach horses closer than ten meters, as well as attend cultural events and drive horse-drawn carts.