У Берасці сёння прайшоў чарговы пратэст супраць будаўніцтва акумулятарнага заводу. Выйшлі 300 чалавек, нікога не затрымалі.
Opublikowany przez Белсат TV Niedziela, 7 kwietnia 2019
Protesting against the construction of a battery plant near Brest, more than 300 protesters marched through the centre of the city on April, 7. The protesters are outraged over persecuting the activists and initiating a criminal case against one of the leaders of the initiative group.
Over a year ago, Brest residents started protesting against the construction of a hazardous battery factory by the iPower company. As the city authorities outlaw protests, people do not make speeches or chant any slogans – they just feed pigeons or carry baloons.
Although Brest residents collected almost 40,000 signatures against the construction, the city authorities remain dismissive of the petition and the project has been completed. Every Sunday people hold peaceful protest rallies; in turn, the local police detain the participants.
But a recent, more brutal wave of repression against the initiative group has caused a boomerang effect: 300 local residents showed up at the rally in Lenin Square on Sunday. The people are irate at the charge of ammo possession brought against protester Maisey Mazko.
On April 2, traffic police officers, investigators and people in civilian clothes stopped and searched the car in which Mr Mazko was travelling. He works as a steward at a monastery. In his company car they found objects that look like cartridges, and even a briquette of an unknown substance. The police said it was explosives. Mazko had to spend three days in a predetention centre, then he was released, but he is still a suspect.
In spite of pressure, the number of protesters turns out to have grown on Sunday.
Brest residents:
“They think that if they exert pressure on activists or plant explosives, as they did to Mazko, people will not come.”
“Everyone realizes that Mazko was framed for the case. Only those who neither think twice nor have their own opinion will give credibility to the story the Investigative Committee says.
“Their actions were so rude and disgusting that our ‘law enforcers’ have completely fallen in my esteem. I used to trust the traffic police, but how can can I trust them now?”
Interestingly, the local authorities tried to prevent participants from gathering together in the square by organizing a sports festival for schoolchildren there. Many plainclothed police officers were spotted; for example, Major Andrey Pyshkin who earlier detained activists Yuliya Zubik and Tatsyana Fesikava.
Before the rally, Brest resident Alyaksandr Kazlyanka was preventively detained on the grounds that he had allegedly stolen a bicycle he was riding. He was taken to Maskouski police station and released two hours later.
“People are sick and tired of being silent, they are critical of the government’s turning a deaf ear to them. That is why their peaceful are developing,” human rights activist Raman Kislyak told Belsat.
Protesters in Savetskaya street
Official sports event in Lenin Square
For the first time, the locals took part in peaceful protesting on February 25, 2018. Over the past year, people came to the square every Sunday, filed complaints and appeals, collected 40,000 signatures, but the authorities keep ignoring their opinion.
About 70 mass events were banned. Therefore, people gather in the central square of Brest and feed pigeons, but even in this format, the authorities use repression. Many participants of the pigeon feeding were detained by the police, people were fined and held in prison. Moreover, every appearance of the Belsat journalists is punishable by heavy fines.
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.
АС, belsat.eu
