“We are hungry and they tell us we are okay and satisfied” (PHOTO)

111008 Sverdlov Shod.mp3

The People’s Assembly was organized in big Belarusian cities on October 8. The event did not attract many people: sometimes there were more policemen that ordinary people. According to one of the participants, the police and the lack of information turned people away from the People’s Assembly. The rain was not to blame for it:

"People are afraid of getting fined, fired or something else… I arrived here with a man who owns 45 hectares of land. He said: “I will be unlucky if somebody finds out that I attended the assembly!”

"People are scared. They said on TV yesterday [Oct.7 – Euroradio’s note] that even the people who would be noticed near the venue would be fined”, - a pensioner standing nearby supported Euroradio’s interlocutor.

The action participants made a list of demands and mentioned them in the general resolution. People demand that the government should curb the inflation, increase the wages, stop the practice of signing short-term work contracts, stimulate the economic imitative and not to hinder entrepreneurs who create new workplaces.

"We are hungry”, - continued Euroradio’s interlocutor. – We are literally hungry. We eat porridge every day. We have to pay for services. We need amenities. We need to take a shower…  Pensioners are hungry! We cannot afford anything. And they tell us that we are okay and satisfied with everything”.
There are political demands in the resolution too. The release and vindication of political prisoners and a free election are among them. One of the organizers of the People’s Assembly, politician Victar Ivashkevich, thinks that the government is unlikely to accept and fulfil the demands of the action participants immediately.
Victar Ivashkevich: "People will get tired of living like this. And their life will keep getting worse. We will be able to realize the programme we have voted for today when they get tired”.