Residents of Slonim ask local authorities to permit sledding

They follow advice of police officers, who detained young people sledding down the hill on Friday.

The police officers said the men organised an unsanctioned mass event. The incident happened in Slonim, Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi writes.

A hill in a town district usually attracts children and young people in winter. Some young people created a group in Vkontakte social networking site inviting to go sledding together. They either choose the wrong time, or the locals were not so enthusiastic, but only three people came to the hill. Suddenly, the police arrived. They filmed the action and then came to talk.

“There were three of us. We were enjoying a good winter day. We were sledding down the hill and didn't imagine it could end at a police station. Police officers came to us after 1.5 hours of sledding and ordered to follow them to the police station. We were surprised, but we didn't argue. We were charged of an attempt to organise an unsanctioned mass event. They then allowed us to go,” Kiryl, one of the three sledders, says.

The police explain they are checking the incident to find out if the actions violated the administrative legislation.

The young people hoped for a successful outcome and plan to invite Slonim dwellers to go sledding again. This time, following advice of policemen, they are going to file an application for sledding to the local authorities.