On the evening of May 16, a group of cyclists, participants of MINSK FIXED GEAR, was detained at the Tsnianka Reservoir in Minsk.
According to spring96.org, an amateur race ‘Tour de Tsna’ was to have taken place there. In total, according to eyewitnesses, more than 10 people were detained. One of them was detained for an “Anti-Lukashenka” T-shirt. Cyclists were put in four vans and taken to the Savetski police department for an ID check.
“We were going to race. There were more than 40 people,” said one of the witnesses to TUT.by. “We gathered on the mountain before the start. We had agreed to do it without symbols. However, one guy had a protest T-shirt, a bus pulled up, and he was detained. We were going to start the second time in the same place, the same bus drove up, and police began to demand to show the contents of the rucksacks. But they said, “we’ll copy the organizer’s personal details. No one will touch you.”
We were kept like that for about an hour, and then the second van arrived with, as we were told, the riot police bosses. The question “Why?” was answered that this was an unsanctioned event and we needed permission from the Executive Committee. As a result, a third minibus arrived, some people left, and the rest were taken to the Savetski police department “for clarification”.
