About a hundred people have gathered the other day for another action against the construction of a battery plant in Brest.
Among the participants were activists Alyaksandr Kabanov, Siarhey Pyatrukhin and Zmitser Andrasyuk, who were detained for collecting signatures for the resignation of the Brest region leadership.
Bloggers Kabanau and Pyatrukhin were detained by the police and taken to the local police department. The grim faces of the riot police are no different from those of the bandits in the 90s.
The official reason for the detention was the signature collection against the leadership of Brest region, which would not listen to citizens. The bloggers were arrested over the article “violation of the procedure for holding mass events.” Before the arrest, Alyaksandr Kabanau noted a small number of people at the rally. Quite possibly it happened due to the fact that the local leadership used an administrative resource to out pressure on the dissenters.
“There are already cases of activists of the group against the plant being fired from their jobs. We will present them later. It means that the pressure on the people who come out is there,” Kabanau noted.
According to the blogger, people get dismissed from work and their contracts do not get renewed.
Several days ago, the local anarchists blocked the M1 highway in protest against the construction.
Their statement said:
“The construction of the plant caused massive protests of Brest residents, about 2 thousand people came to the rally against the plant. Despite this, the authorities and the owner of the plant would not give up their plans. The anarchists oppose the construction of a production harmful to the environment near the city, and therefore in support of the protesters they blocked the road. “
Also the construction site had the following inscription: “No To Battery Plant!”. The next day the police paid visits to the anarchists en masse, looking for those who had held an action against the plant.
For several months, Brest residents have been protesting against the battery factory, which is being constructed near the city. But nothing has changed. The start of production is planned for the end of the year. There will be established a full cycle of production of lead-acid batteries. For this reason, about 37 thousand signatures against the plant were transferred to the presidential administration. However, based on the reaction of the authorities, there will be no reaction.
Kiryl Smyahlikau, belsat.eu
