About a hundred opposition activists gathered on October square to demand the authorities to release prisoners of conscience.<\/p>\n
Activists of the civil campaign \u201cEuropean Belarus\u201d, \u201cYoung Front\u201d and \u201dYoung Belarus\u201d took part in the rally. Leader of the \u201cEuropean Belarus\u201d campaign Andrei Sannikov, coordinator of Charter\u201997 press center Zmitser Bandarenka, head of the Belarusian Popular Front party Lyavon Barshcheuski, leader of the \u201cYoung Front\u201d Zmitser Dashkevich, co-head of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party Paval Sevyarynets, leader of the \u201cYoung Belarus\u201d Artur Finkevich, activists of the \u201cEuropean Belarus\u201d campaign Paval Yukhnevich, Maksim Vinyarski, Alyaksandr Atroshchankau, participants of the Process of 14 Artsyom Dubski, Maksim Dashuk, Anton Koipish and others came to the square.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators were holding portraits of political prisoners and disappeared Belarusian politicians and banners \u201cFreedom for Political Prisoners\u201d, national and EU flags. Ten minutes later, dozens of riot militiamen came to the square and began to force people to Internatsyanalnaya Street. Riot militiamen were beating militiamen, snatching national and EU flags. A major, commander of the riot militia, blatantly tore down a portrait of former interior minister Yury Zakharanka, kidnapped in Belarus.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators were forced out of October square to Internatsyanalnaya Street and then to Yanka Kupala Street and Bahdanovich Street. The protesters were escorted some kilometres to Atlant refrigerator plant. When the demonstrators made attempts to return to the square, riot militia forced them out again.<\/p>\n
The protesters were shouting \u201cShame!\u201d, \u201cFascists!\u201d, \u201cFreedom to political prisoners!\u201d, \u201cLong Live Belarus!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRiot militia uses an extremely mean and cynical policy during these dispersals. One can think that participants of the action were just being pushed out of the city center, but in real fact, riot militiamen were beating us cruelly. They were hitting us with their fists and feet in kidneys, legs, and backbones. Those who fell down to the ground, among them girls, were kicked, some people have serious injures,\u201d told activists of the \u201cEuropean Belarus\u201d Alyaksandr Atroshchankau, forced out of the square together with other demonstrators.<\/p>\n
It should be reminded that Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg arrived in Minsk today, on Solidarity Day. He is to solve whether Alyaksandr Lukashenka will take part in the Eastern Partnership summit in Prague. Andrei Sannikov, leader of the civil campaign \u201cEuropean Belarus\u201d, who took part in the action commented on the dispersal of a peaceful rally to the Charter\u201997 press center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have again seen a real, not \u201cliberal\u201d face of the regime \u2013 a peaceful action, which can\u2019t be called forbidden even according to Lukashenka\u2019s laws, was brutally dispersed.<\/p>\n
If earlier the authorities thought about their actions on days when European officials were visiting Minsk, now they are taking a clear line: Lukashenka did his best to insult Europeans. He needs Europe to shut eyes on political repressions in Belarus, and the more opinions appear in the European policy, the more chances for success Lukashenka has. That\u2019s why riot militiamen are tearing EU flags blatantly, tearing portraits of political prisoners and disappeared politicians. The authorities count Europe will get tired of raising up a question of human rights violations in Belarus and will start with Lukashenka a business he wants \u2013 cynical economic support of the dictatorial regime. I can assure the dictator will fail. People of Belarus are able to protect their rights and will do it till victory,\u201d Andrei Sannikov said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An action of solidarity with political prisoners was brutally dispersed in Minsk on April 16. People who came to October square were brutally beaten by riot militiamen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200484"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.192.98.152\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}