Minsk police after Lukashenka’s former rival




Former presidential candidate and political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich has been staying at home for 4 days so that the Minsk police could not grab him, the politician told belsat.eu.

According to him, since Tuesday plainclothes policemen have been keeping the watch near his house.

“Yesterday I was visited by people who declared their participation in the Freedom Day march. When leaving they noticed three persons sitting in the car and observing them. In addition, the KGB is tapping into our phones and, probably, using video surveillance,” Statkevich said.

However, the politician intends to take part in the march and urges like-minders to join him. those wishing pryyadnatstsa, In his opinion, president Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered detention to artificially reduce the number of participants in the march.

“This year he has no resources to stop the march by force. He took considerable steps to soften the negative consequences of last year’s crackdown on protesters in the West. So now he is resorting to his usual tool -intimidation – and trying to scare people away from the march,” he stressed.

As reported earlier, the Minsk Police have started to preventively detain activists and politicians who were about to hold a march on March 25, Belarus’ unofficial Freedom Day.

A number of festive events were scheduled for Sunday on the occasion of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the proclamation of Belarus’ nationhood.

In late February, Minsk authorities allowed to hold a Freedom Day concert and a rally next to the Opera and Ballet Theatre, but banned the applicants from marching. However, several politicians submitted another application for holding a march on the occasion at Minsk city executive committee, but failed to give any approval.

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March 25, 2018 will be the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR). It came into existence at the end of the First World War, when Bolshevik forces left Minsk and the city was occupied by German troops. On March 25, 1918 the Provisional Government (Rada) proclaimed the independence of the BNR. After the Red Army re-entered Minsk, the Communist government replaced the Rada; its members had to emigrate. For many years, Lukashenka regime has been slamming and persecuting those who remember the BNR.

КА, belsat.eu

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