Event starting at 01:07:00
On September 9, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with politicians, reporters and representatives of Belarusian diaspora in the Warsaw-based Belarusian House. Belsat TV was livestreaming the event (BEL/PL/RU).
Many people who were willing to take part in the meeting were standing in a queue to the Belarusian House in Warsaw. However, mainly public figures and journalists were present at the meeting, as the hall is too small to accomodate all those wishing to attend the event.
“I really appreciate the cordial welcome that me and other people who had to leave Belarus have received from Poland. Our country is now going through both hard and heartwarming times. On the one hand, the current developments are elating me, because our people, Belarusians, have finally woken up. We feel that we are a united nation – one for all and all for one. The people of Belarus have raised to fight for our rights; for the right to stand, speak, clap our hands, for the right to choose and decide upon the future of our beloved Motherland on our own. Horrible things are now happening in Belarusian streets; it is woefully, but violence has passed all bounds there. Our people will never forgive [the authorities] the events that occurred on August 9-11, when our citizens were taking to the streets to protect their votes. In the opinion of our people, president Lukashenka is not legitimate anymore, the nation is not going to accept him as a head of state, they do not trust him, they are not ready to entrust the country’s future to him,” Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said.
The entire European Union is supporting Belarus in its aspiration for democracy and freedom, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed during the meeting. According to him, Poland is an open home for all Belarusians who need help.
“In our programme called ‘In solidarity with Belarus’, we offer aid to the repressed and we are trying to support the Belarusians groups that carry the song of freedom to Belarus, fighting for a free, democratic and sovereign Belarus,” news agency PAP quotes the top official.
PM Morawiecki also expressed gratitude to Belsat TV director Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy for the channel’s years-long countering pro-Lukashenka propaganda.
In turn, Ales Zarembyuk, Head of the Belarusian House, thanked the minister for the Polish programme; as part of it, Belarusian victims of police abuse are being treated in Poland.
After Mateusz Morawiecki and Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya delivered their speeches, the representatives of mass media were asked to leave as the talks on the Belarusian issues were expected to start.
