On May 2, an electronic petition No. 14277 was registered on the website of the Kyiv City Council, demanding a ban on unwrapping large items for sleeping at metro stations.
The author of the proposal, Natalya Tyts, believes that items such as tourist tents, air beds and large mattresses take up a significant area, which is why other people, in particular the elderly, pregnant women and parents with children, do not have enough space and are forced to sit in the aisles or on steps. Tyts considers this a “selfish use of space.”
“In the space occupied by one such tent or mattress (with only one or two people), four to 10 people could safely and relatively comfortably be seated,” the petition states.
Tyts calls for an official ban on the use of such items in the metro during alarms, the introduction of fines in the amount of 5 thousand UAH and control by the police and station workers with the right to demand the dismantling of such structures. As of 10:40 p.m., the proposal had received 314 votes.
At the same time, due to the use of tents and mattresses in the metro during air raids, in particular after the massive missile and drone attack on the capital on the night of June 2, a discussion broke out among Kiev residents. In particular, controversy arose on the Threads social network: some users support the initiative to ban structures, others sharply criticize such accusations, considering them an exaggeration and “a fight against people who are simply trying to survive night shelling.”
User gnomoverzhets told a story about a woman who allegedly cut a man's tent because he took her permanent spot where four people had always laid before him.
“They had a fight in the shelter. People were talking: “tent majors” should be prohibited from entering the metro, we need to create a petition: either let at least three people in, or get out,” the message says.
hmmarchuk believes that some people do not always distinguish between normal personal comfort and where it is worth taking into account the convenience and needs of others.
At the same time, Taisiiabieliakova reminds that a place in the metro “cannot belong to anyone, because it is municipal property, not personal.”
Some commentators are generally surprised by such a discussion.
“In Lukyanovka there are all “tent tents” and all “mattress beds”, some with camp chairs, I haven’t seen anyone complain yet, there is enough space for everyone. What do you think, when we are being squandered, and in the morning we have to go to work, should people get enough sleep? – asks vidverta.ph.
Some suggest that stories about the ban may be part of hype or exaggeration.
“Are you kidding? Is this not a byte? What frightens me is not the story about the tent, but how quickly people have the desire to ban, expel, not let in, cut. This is no longer about passive aggression, which everyone so often talks about, hiding real hostility and a level of stress that they cannot cope with, pouring it into rage. Horror. I think people have stopped thinking,” writes saba.musina.
Some users demanded to build “normal shelters for the population.”
“In the fifth year of a full-scale war, questions need to be asked not about tents, but about shelters. Why was the Dynasty cooperative built, but not shelters?” – asks zloypsiholog with reference to the Dynasty cooperative near Kiev, which appears in the case of suspicion against the former head of the Presidential Office Andrey Yermak.
However, katia_uzh reminds that “Dynasty” is also unfinished.
KGVA speaker Ekaterina Pop said on Noviny.Live that the issue of using tents in the metro during alarms could be put up for public discussion, however, a decision on the ban had not yet been made, but people were called upon for mutual respect in shelters.
The metro asks not to bring bulky things that interfere with movement and evacuation, and recommends using more compact means and less crowded stations, Suspilne wrote.
