Victims of the Nutcracker stampede have prepared a complaint against the Bolshoi Theater

A scandal erupted around the ballet “The Nutcracker”. Those who wanted to go to the ballet spent days freezing in line to buy bracelets; it turned out to be almost impossible to purchase tickets through the website, and offers appeared on the Internet at inflated prices.

Those who have gone through all the circles of hell are asking law enforcement agencies to check the actions of the Bolshoi Theater. In particular, to identify those responsible for creating an artificial shortage of tickets. The people demand that the management of the theater be held accountable, as written in the appeal, for hiding tickets, organizing mass riots, providing services for issuing bracelets and selling tickets that do not meet security requirements.

“Selling tickets in a live queue degrades human dignity. This is a disgrace for the theater and our culture,” the appeal states.

The complaint contains a brief description of what ballet lovers encountered on the nights of November 4 and 11.

“On the evening of November 2, an organized group appeared near the ticket office and took about the first hundred places. Next, a spontaneous and chaotic live queue was formed, to which people in front were constantly being added from out of nowhere. Those who stood in the same line could not resist their stronger comrades and were forced to let them pass. At some point, a stampede began, and another group of comrades moved forward, pushing the rest.

There were provocateurs walking in the queue, inciting riots, which allowed them to get their people into the queue.

It was a miracle that Khodynka didn’t happen and no one died. However, the crush was such that people were screaming.

People who stood in this live queue for up to 12 hours, in a crush, in a pen, in the cold, without the opportunity to go to the toilet, eat, or rest, were unable to receive bracelets.

On November 4, most of the 400 bracelets were received by people from the organized group of comrades and those who joined them. Ordinary people who stood there for 16-12 hours also took bracelets, but they were just lucky. And this luck cost them loss of health and moral harm.”

Here is a brief description of what happened on the night of November 11th. “A live queue began to form within two days. People stood in line for more than 24 hours to receive the bracelets. By the time the bracelets were handed out, a stampede began, allowing those who were not in line to get in. Some people felt sick in the crush. It was impossible to go away to warm up or go to the toilet, otherwise you would lose your place in the queue. At the same time, those with more physical strength were quite able to get in.”

The applicants to the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office indicate that the sale of tickets to The Nutcracker was organized in such a way that only physically and mentally prepared people could stand in line. Women, pensioners, disabled people and children cannot afford such an event.

“This is a disgrace,” the applicants say. “The Bolshoi Theater, in our opinion, does not ensure the safety of purchasing tickets and in fact organizes riots. Standing like this is physically unbearable.”

In the appeal, people noticed that purchasing tickets online also turned out to be difficult. “The Bolshoi Theater deliberately did not make it possible to buy tickets online… There were no tickets available on the website after going to the ticket selection section,” the statement reads.

“MK” described what happened near the theater box office on the nights of November 4 and 11.

On Saturday afternoon we came to the theater to look at the situation.

A queue of about 200 people formed near the ticket office. People came here with bracelets that were used to buy tickets. 40-50 people passed through every hour.

People were divided into groups. Each party stood in its own enclosure, fenced with metal barriers. A paddy wagon was driven towards the crowd. The line was controlled by six riot police officers in helmets and bulletproof vests and police officers.

“They are scolding you for not keeping an eye on the riots the day before,” I turned to one of the policemen.

“I’m aware,” the man was not at all embarrassed. “I’ve been on duty here for the second day, and I’ve heard a lot about myself. Let those who criticize our actions try to calm down the uncontrollable crowd. It seemed to me that people were ready to tear each other apart for the unfortunate Nutcracker. I don’t understand the hype, it seems crazy.

— Wouldn’t you like to go to the ballet yourself?

– Are you laughing? Just pay me, I won’t go there.

The riot police had just started their shift. They know what happened on Saturday night from the words of their colleagues.

“They say something terrible was happening.” Now we were told to guard the line not only at night, but even during the day, while everything is quiet. We’re mentally preparing for the night,” said one of the riot police. – By the way, there were rumors about some provocateurs, resellers. There are none today. Probably, publications in the media scared them away.

Another distribution of bracelets was planned at midnight.

“I’m scared to imagine what awaits us closer to night,” admitted one of the women in line. – But we have been standing for 5 hours, there is no turning back. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

The people in the queue were clearly prepared: many had blankets on their shoulders, people were sitting on folding chairs, tea was poured from thermoses, and they stocked up on sandwiches. It seemed that a little more and they would start frying kebabs here.

On the night of November 12, the distribution of tickets went smoothly. “I came closer to the evening, stood for only 3 hours and took the bracelet. There was practically no one behind me in line,” the girl shared on social networks. “Yes, this time there was no rush, it seemed to me that not even all the bracelets were distributed,” confirmed another man.