Chernobyl anniversary march in Minsk
Police officers succeeded in forcing the demonstrators to follow the authorities-designated route. Between 800 and 1000 people took part in the march marking the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
14:55 Charnobylski Shlyakh ended in Minsk with a prayer for the victims in front of the Chernobyl chapel. Participants are leaving.
14:25 The demonstration continues
peacefully. Police officers are leading the demonstrators to the chapel. No
participants have been arrested, said Pavel Sevyarynets and Lyavon
Barshchewski, who are among the marching people.
14:15 Demonstrators
are gathering in front of the Chernobyl
chapel. No clashes with police have occurred. Plainclothes officers have
closely followed the anti-globalization group, preventing it at one point from
turning from the authorized route. The crowd is now smaller, about 800 people.
14.00. Maladaya Belarus members quit the procession after the group's leader Artur Finkevich said that it makes no sense to follow the authorities-designated route, RFE/RL Belarus Service reported.
13:55. The demonstrators have reached the intersection of Yakub Kolas and Khmyalnitski Street. There are many prisoner-transport vehicles and a cordon of riot policemen. The anti-globalization group unexpectedly turned and started to march away from the city center. Riot policemen blocked their way.
13:29 Riot police officers let demonstrators walk through Yakub Kolas Square
toward Bangalore Square.
Ivashkevich suggested that demonstrators turn to Khmyalnitski Street.
13:17. Pavel Ivanenka, 83, who was relocated from a contaminated village, told ERB "I have come here by the calling of my heart. Chernobyl for me is a drastic change in life, a change of native land, of village. I lived close to Brahin. I am not afraid of riot police. I do not think they will crack down on us today."
13.15. The demonstrators left the square in front of the Academy of Sciences building, and are walking on the sidewalk headed for Yakub Kolas Square, but riot police have blocked the way.
One demonstrator was taken away by an ambulance after an epileptic seizure.
12.59. Officials asked Lyavon Barshewski,
leader of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), to take a ride with them in a car
and show them the route. The demonstrators are waiting in front of the Academy of Sciences building. Members of the BPF
youth wing and the United Pro-democratic Forces (UPF) formed a 100-meter chain
along the thoroughfare. A group of anti-globalization demonstrators are
standing separately.
12.57. Police
officers broke into the apartment of Natallya Radzina, editor of the
Khartiya-97 Web site. The Khartiya 97 human rights group uses the apartment as
its office.
12:45
The participants are listening
as Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu reads his poems. Syarhey Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian
Party of Communists (BPC), and Alyaksandr Bukhvostau, leader of the
non-registered Belarusian Party of Workers, have turned up. Few police officers
wearing uniform are seen around. Plainclothes officers are filming the
demonstration.
12.30. A senior police official warned Lyavon Barshchewski, leader of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), against leading the demonstrators along the non-authorized route. Brashchewski announced that the march will follow the route designated by the authorities.
12.25. A rally has begun in front of the Academy of Sciences building. Ivan Nikitchanka, an expert in the Chernobyl aftermath, said that he had toured 24 districts and found high radioactive contamination levels in all of them.
12.11. It is a nice sunny day. About 800 gathered in front of the Academy of Sciences building. Demonstrators are holding signs that say, "We Are against Nuclear Reactors," "Anti-Nuclear Resistance." Among the demonstrators are Pavel Sevyarynets, a leader of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, United Civic Party Chairman Anatol Lyabedzka and Viktar Ivashkevich, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF).
Photo - bymedia.net
