The main festivities will unfold today in Minsk at the site near the Palace of Sports, where the concert is to start at 13.00.
A traditional power extreme tournament is to be held near the Palace of Sports; one can participate in a number of workshops when visiting fair ‘The City of Masters’.
Street musicians, theatre groups and animators are expected to perform all the day long In the Upper Town.
The celebration will be culminated near stela ‘Minsk is Hero City’.
At 22:00 a gala concert is to begin here as part of the republican action ‘We, Belarusians, Are Peaceful People’ that was launched in February.
Fireworks will be given at 23.00, after the traditional campaign ‘Let’s sing the national anthem together’. After the fireworks there will be the second part of the gala concert which will last till 00.30.
Ambiguous date
The official Independence day is celebrated on July 3, on the day of liberation of the Belarusian capital from German invaders. Such decision was taken by the republican referendum held in1996. Earlier the Independence day had been commemorated on July 27, its celebration being coincided with the day of passing the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990.
The opposition does not recognise the official Independence Day. According to them it is the March 25, 1918 that should be taken as the starting point of the Belarusian independence. On March 25, 1918 the Provisional government (Rada) proclaimed the independence of the Belarusian National Republic that came into existence at the end of the First World War, when Bolshevik forces left Minsk and the city was occupied by German troops. After the Red Army re-entered Minsk, the Communist government replaced the Rada; its members had to emigrate. Opposition activists and civil society actors celebrate the anniversary of the proclamation of the BNR annually.
