Belarus’ Independence Day ends with mass arrests

27 maart 2009

Source: Charter97

On Wednesday 25 March Belarus celebrated the 91st anniversary of the country’s independence proclamation. Despite this day –which was supposed to be a festive occasion- a massive anti-government rally was organised on the streets of Minsk. Thousand of soldiers of the interior troops were brought in the capital to cease the crowd, and the day ended with mass arrests and cruel beating of many people. About five to seven thousands of people took part in the protests.

 

While witnesses said the protests were peaceful and officials did not try to disperse the crowed, rights groups reported that at least two opposition activists were detained. Hundreds of policemen and riot policemen were violently thrown against participants of the demonstration. Moreover, many people were beaten up, and more than 100 civilians were detained.

Some thousands of people gathered on the streets of Minks on 25 March to call for greater democracy and human rights in the country. Demonstrators were holding big breadths of cloth in the colours of the Belarusian flag in the air with slogans as “Freedom to political prisoners”, “Belarus to Europe!” and “Independence”. People were also waving with EU flags and holding up balloons, which nonetheless created a festive atmosphere. Some prominent politicians and other famous people that attended the protests were: leader of the "For Freedom" movement Alyaksandr Milinkevich, leader of the Social Democratic Party Mikola Statkevich, former chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich and Belarus Popular Front party leaders Lyavon Barshcheuski and Viktar Ivashkevich.



Sources: Charter97; VOANews; The Hub

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