For first time in 30 years: No march in memory of Chernobyl disaster victims this spring

For the first time since 1989, the time-honoured Chernobyl Path march will not be held in Minsk.

The organizing committee has withdrawn their application due to the city authorities’ demand to pay 5,737 Belarusian rubles (appr. $2,800) for the police services at the event. In addition, the organizers were expected to disburse 215 rubles to municipal workers and 240 – to paramedics.

“We have handed our renunciation letter to Minsk city executive committee. It is not about money; it is our fundamental political position. If we fail to say ‘no’ now, the authorities will continue using such practice – as it happened during the latest Freedom Day celebration,” Volha Kavalkova, a co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, told belsat.eu.

On March 25, the Minsk police grabbed former political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich during the authorised concert on the occasion of 101st anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR) right in front of the eyes of his pregnant wife Nasta Dashkevich and other attendees. Shortly before the detention, Dashkevich delivered a speech sharply criticizing suppressors of freedom and enemies of Belarus’ independence. He also recalled the crimes of the Soviet regime and called president Alyaksandr Lukashenka ‘impostor’. Notably, organizers of the event also had to pay a few thousands rubles for the police services.

The representatives of the committee are set to seek amendments to the law on mass events that currently provides for such recoveries imposed on organizers. A corresponding appeal has been filed to the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice.

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