All organisations of Minsk denied premises to Congress of Belarusians

On May 7 the Republican Art gallery in Minsk which belongs to the Artists’ Union, denied the World Association of Belarusians "Batskaushchyna" the premises for holding the 5th Congress of the organisation.

In the official letter signed by the director A. Zinkevich, it is said that there is no possibility to give premises because of alleged “contract of lease signed earlier”, “Nasha Niva” reports with a reference to the press-service of the Association.

The leadership of the "Batskaushchyna" underlines that initially the variant to hold the congress in the Palace of Arts wasn’t considered, as the assembly hall is small there. However, after the other organisations of Minsk denied premises, it was decided to apply to the Palace of Arts. It is also connected to the fact that the assembly hall belongs to the Belarusian Union of Artists, and sessions of the “Society of the Belarusian Language” and other Belarusian public associations had been held there.

Earlier the Palace of Republic, the Palace of Trade Unions, the Palace of Culture of the MTZ (Minsk Tractor Plant), the Culture centre of MAZ (Minsk Automobile plant), the Assembly Hall of Minsk Linguistic University, the House of Officers and others denied premises for the event. There are 18 denials altogether counting with the today’s one.

The 5th congress of the World Association of Belarusians "Batskaushchyna" is planned for July 18-19, 2009. 400 delegates from 29 countries of the world are to take part in it. All the previous congresses which are held once in four years, where held in Minsk. The leadership of the Association does not exclude that the main forum of the Belarusian expatriate community would be held outside Belarus.