At 3 am on January 21, with temperatures plummeting below minus 25, bulldozers rolled into the picturesque Rechnik neighbourhood on the banks of the Moskva River close to the city centre.
Bailiffs and riot police had been ordered to evict scores of people and tear down their homes, all apparently unannounced.
Some householders barricaded themselves in. One man even threatened to commit suicide.
You can see footage from the Russian News agency RIA Novosti
here.
According to Julia in London, whose family home is in danger of being demolished, Rechnik has been turned into a war zone.
"The Russian police are using gas and beating up women," she wrote in an email.
![[QODLink]](http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2012/2/12/2012212114913931580_16.jpg "The miracle generation")
