28 March 2024, Thursday, 23:20
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Babruisk ideologists invent new form of football

Officials choose a creative approach to ban opposition pickets.

Activists of the United Civil Party (UCP) filed 20 applications for pickets against Russian military bases in Belarus. Ten applications were filed in Mahilou and ten in Babruisk, where a new Russian base is to be opened, ucpb.org learnt from activist Uladzimir Shantsau.

“We planned to have one picket a day: five pickets in Mahilou, five in Babruisk, five in Mahilou again and so on. It is like a marathon. We received the first replies from the authorities. The Mahilou authorities explain the ban with the fact that activists wanted to hold pickets in the city centre, though the place designated for mass events is an abandoned stadium on the outskirts. But we get refusals even if we try to organise a picket in the permitted place.

Mahilou ideologists repeatedly decline all our applications,” he says.

The activists planned to hold pickets in Babruisk in the permitted place – a stadium in Uritski street.

“It turned out that football matches will take place on the days that we choose for our pickets. Let's look at a photo of the announcement at the stadium. It says that due to bad weather conditions the football matches scheduled for November 20-24 (when we wanted to have pickets) were postponed until November 30 – December 4, the days of our marathon of pickets in Babruisk.

It is interesting if Babruisk ideologists really hope that the weather will be better in the first days of winter. Our curiosity made us continue filing applications for pickets to see what will happen. Let's see how they will play football in snow,” Uladzimir Shantsau says.

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