About 40 youths march in downtown Minsk against street renaming :: Charter'97 :: News

About 40 pro-democracy youths carrying images of printing pioneer Francisak Skaryna and singing Belarusian-language songs marched through the center of Minsk on Sunday to protest the renaming of streets in the Belarusian capital. At least four people were reported detained.

The protest was staged against Aleksandr Lukashenko’s presidential edict that renamed the city’s main thoroughfare, named after printing pioneer Francisak Skaryna, Independence Avenue, and Pyotr Masherov Avenue, another major street in the capital city, Victors Avenue (Prospekt Pobeditelei in Russian).

The activists gathered near Oktyabrskaya Square on Sunday afternoon intending to march down what used to be Francisak Skaryna Avenue to the Vostok subway station in the city’s eastern end.

While approaching Yakub Kolas Square, they were ordered by police officers to turn right into Lunacharskogo Street. The youths obeyed but headed back a few minutes later, lining along the city’s main artery in front of the building of the State Philharmonic Society. After the police picked up two demonstrators, the rest crossed the street and formed a human chain on Yakub Kolas Square. The activists attempted to cross the street back five minutes later but had to disperse as police officers started arresting them.