Arrests in Brest, as people protests against battery plant construction


The court has punished the people protesting against the construction of the battery plant in Brest by a 250 BYN fine. They were feeding birds on Lenin Square. Politician Mikalai Statkevich received five days of arrest.

This was a traditional event in the central square of Brest. Mikalai Statkevich and videobloggers Syarhey Pyatrukhina and Alyaksandr Kabanau were arrested by the riot police and taken away in a paddy wagon. Some other activists were arrested on the way to the building of Leninski district police department.

The protests against the construction of a battery factory has been repeatedly banned, and local bloggers and activists have been detained and fined. On the eve of the Sunday’s action, the police also targeted some Brest anarchists.

The battery plant near the city is being built in the free economic zone “Brest” by a Chinese corporation. The project was commissioned by the “IPower” company. It is planned that the plant will have a full cycle of production of lead-acid batteries.

Residents of the city and surrounding villages believe that the production would harmfully impact their health and the environment. The project opponents say the construction has a number of violations, almost 37 thousand signatures against the plant were sent to Lukashenka’s administration in February. But the government commission did not find any violations in the implementation of the project.

Iryna Darafeychuk, belsat.eu

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