Rally against KGB walls in Minsk: 150 people pay tribute to Stalinism victims in Belarus


About 150 people have taken part in a memorial rally to honor and remember victims of Stalin-era terror at the KGB building in the center of the Belarusian capital.

A few days earlier, former political prisoner and 2010 presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich called to create a chain of remembrance for victims of Stalinism and remind the executioners’ successors of responsibility for crimes.

In 1937, on the night of 29 to 30 October, Soviet chekists executed more than 100 representatives of the Belarusian intellectual elite – writers, cultural and public figures, economists.

“It is our duty to remember the people who were killed on this day in 1937. This was the process of the destruction of the nation and it is still going on. [The existence of] a nation is impossible without writers, without the people who embody and implement the spirit of the nation. Executioners knew it well, but we survived and we should tell the next generations of executioners that such a game won’t come off again!” Statkevich said.

According to Statkevich, another purpose of the action against the walls of the KGB headquarters is the ‘protection of the territory of ​​freedom’ which was won by street protests before the presidential election.

People were asked to come with candles and lamps and without national flags. A lot of people whose families were killed by the Stalinist regime turned up to put candles on the stairs and against the walls. No one was detained during the rally, but the police drew up protocols upon the organizers..

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26684″ img_size=”large”][vc_single_image image=”26689″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26694″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26698″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26702″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26706″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26710″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26714″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26718″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26722″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26726″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26730″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26734″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26738″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”26742″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, a poet and former candidate for the presidency in 2010, supported this initiative.

“No normal country outlaws honoring the memory of the victims, lighting the candles at the place where they faced death. Only savages can prevent us from this – just as those who shot poets in the back of the neck in 1937. Today KGB officers say that they are not the same [as the chekists of the past]. If it is true, then let them come to us not with batons, but with candles, and join us standing in the chain of remembrance. Only in this case we will believe that something might change in our country,” the politician said on Facebook.

According to different estimates, the number of victims of the Stalinist terror may reach 5.5 mln people.

TWITTER