Independence day celebrated in Minsk

An hour before the appointed near the Red Catholic Church meeting with the deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the 12th Convening at the entrances of the Nyamiga and Kupalauskaya metro stations reinforced militia groups were notices.

Close to 4 p.m. the buses of the 100 route passed by their usual stop in the Nezavisimosti Square. The corresponding metro station entrances were blocked by the militia squads. Later the order was given to the militiamen over the radiophone to block the square totally.
By the time around 50 people accompanied by the journalists had already come to the square .Vintsuk Vyachorka, Syargei Scrabets were interviewed by the journalists. Writer Mikhail Sodal, human rights activist Tatstsyana Protska, granddaughter of the well-known Belarusian historian Anton Lutskevich, youth activists. It became known that the United Democratic Party leader Anatol Lyabedzka and the deputy chairman of the BNF Viktar Ivashkevich had been detained on their way to the square. The well-known policymaker Yuri Khadika also failed to get to the square. It was reported that the youth in t-shirts with the national symbols was stopped by the militia near the square.
After receiving the order to vacate the square the militiamen whose number was comparable with the number of the action participants rapidly forced the people to Berson Street. They split into small groups and continued moving along Nyamiga Street to the Yanki Kupali Park.
Near the poet’s monument those who intended to lay the flowers were waited by many plain-clothes men. There was a grey bus in the park. It was surrounded by the people talking over the radiophones. Step-by-step people with flowers started appearing. Elderly women from the Conservative Christian Party of the BNF started singing Belarusian songs. Leader of the European Coalition Mikalai Statkevich approached the monument to the Belarusian poet. Other people followed his example. Suddenly the militia ranks appear from behind the monument. They decisively started forcing the people out of the park and escorted the action participants along Yanki Kupali Street to Maksim Bagdanovich Street.

In the Bangalore Square the action was not held. Only three buses with militia were noticed there.
Anatol Lyabedzka, Viktar Ivashkevich and other detained in the course of the today’s action were released but Franak Vyachorka. At present Franak Vyachorka is kept at the militia department of the Zavadskoy district. The report on his actions was made and he is likely to be guarded to the remand jail in Okrestin Street. That was reported to the Charter ‘97 press-center by the human rights activist Uladzimir Labkovich