Russian rock star gives free concert in Minsk to display solidarity with Belarusian artists :: Charter'97 :: News

Russian rock idol Vyacheslav Butusov gave a free concert before an audience of many thousands in Nations` Friendship Park adjacent to Minsk`s Bangalore Square on the evening of September 17.

By their show, the 42-year-old St. Petersburg-based rocker and his band U-Piter, who performed for about two hours in front of a banner that read "Rock for Freedom," were said to be displaying solidarity with the Belarusian rock artists whose music was actually banned from public performance after they played at an anti-Lukashenko rally in the same park on July 21.

These blacklisted artists, including N.R.M., Zmitser Vaytsyushkevich, Drum Ecstasy, Palats, Alexander Pomidoroff, and Neuro Dubel, had been billed to play before the Russian guests, but this did not occur because authorities had threatened to ban the concert.
A strong OMON (riot police) force was deployed in the park to prevent the show from being politicized. Sergei Kalyakin and Anatoly Lebedko, leaders of the Five Plus opposition coalition, as well as Valery Frolov, a member of the dissident Respublika parliamentary group, were not allowed to speak to the audience from the stage. The police threatened to cut off electricity.

"The point is that I am a parliamentary candidate in this district and today is the official start of electioneering, so I have the right to speak before voters in any form I like," Mr. Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists, told the Belarusian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

OMON officers rushed into the crowd and dragged out those who attempted to wave flags. Several activists of Zubr, an opposition youth movement, were grabbed after they unfurled three Zubr banners. A total of 10 Zubr members were arrested during the concert, according to the movement`s press office.