Belarusian activists who declaim against the restaurant in Kurapaty have met with the representatives of the Ministry of Culture on Wednesday.
They are seeking to draw the top officials’ attention to the opening of the entertainment centre at the site of mass executions. By the moment, the authorities have responded only with drawing protocols upon the activists.
Defenders of Kurapaty, the place of Stalin-era executions near Minsk, keep protesting against ‘dancing on the bones’, i.e. opening the restaurant Let’s Go And Eat in the vicinity of the mass grave. Activists first asked the authorities to interfere with the situation, and then decided to act independently. They are trying not to let cars to the territory of the restaurant.
Paval Sevyarynets, a leader of the protests and former political prisoner, discussed the situation with Deputy Culture Minister Alyaksandr Yatsko. However, according to him there have been no significant changes.
“We proposed to review the protection zone and return to that of 2003. But I have spotted signs of bureaucratic inflexibility. In my opinion, the Ministry of Culture is cutting Kurapaty not without compensation. Apparently, it is Alyaksandr Lukashenka who will bring the question to a decision. They [officials] got confused and take a wait-and-see attitude. They are just covering corruption. We will not leave until the restaurant is moved or closed,” the politician said.
The protesters also demand to suspend the work of the restaurant until the legality of its construction is clarified. In addition, they ask to abandon the practice of bringing Kurapaty defenders to administrative responsibility.
A day earlier, it became known that the owners of the mall previously known as Bulbash Hall offer money to Kurapaty defenders. Through a mediator, they proposed to pay for ending the protests.
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Kurapaty, a place on the outskirts of Minsk, is not just the national memorial and a mass grave of the victims of Stalinist repression; since 1993, it has been is a site of historical and cultural heritage. According to historians, 100,000 – 250,000 persons might have been killed there.
The defense of Kurapaty has a long story. In February 2017, the Belarusian activists began a long-term action in defense of the memorial protesting against the construction of an office building started a few dozen meters from Kurapaty. According to them, it is fraudulent as the building permission was granted when the area was considered a protected zone.
The plot on which ‘Belrekonstruktsiya’ company undertook the construction of a four-storey business center was sold by the city authorities at the auction in 2013. In 2014 the protected zone was significantly cut. According to historian Ihar Kuznyatsou, it is highly likely that remains of the victims will be found here. KGB archives which could cast light on the burial plans are classified until now. After several-day protesting in Kurapaty, the developer decided to take away its building fleet. In the end, the company ordered to minimize any works and take the machines away. However, the authorities have not given up the idea to stop the construction of an entertainment centre here.
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