Solidarity actions were taken in several town and cities of Poland (Photo) :: Charter'97 :: News

Actions of solidarity with Belarus were taken in such Polish town and cities as Vrotslav, Warsaw, Pultusk, Lodz and Poznan .

In the central Lodz a performance of elections took place. The performance was devoted to the elections for seats in the local Soviets which were held in Belarus on January 14. The action was aimed at showing “honesty” and “democratic character” of the Belarusian elections. The independent exit-poll aimed at discovering how the population voted was taken in the course of elections .It occurred that the majority of the polled were” against” .After the elections an official calculations of votes took place resulting in 100% “for”.

The action was followed by the march. People were carrying portraits of the political prisoners and disappeared political figures, white- red -white flags and “Solidarity with Belarus!” and “Zhive Belarus!” posters .The leaflets “Today Belarus needs your Solidarity ” were distributed among the passer-bys . The action ended in the square with the monument to Kastsyushka where the portraits were installed and the candles were lighted.

In Vrotslav on 16 January the acoustic concert of Belarusian music took place and in Pultusk, a town not far from Warsaw ,in the students’ hostels where Belarusian students live the light was turned off in the rooms and candles were lighted at the windowsills.

As we have already reported , presentation of the Yuri Khaschevatsky’s ”Ploscha” documentary was held in the frame of the Solidarity Day on 16 January in Warsaw. The presentation was organized by the Union (Zviaz) for Support of Democracy in Belarus.

The EU will cooperate with Belarus only on condition of certain demands implementation .
Belarus has to comply with the human rights and democracy criteria to join the EU program of neighborhood . This opinion was expressed by Urgen Schmidt , ambassador of Germany to the Russian Federation. According to him, the EU is going to continue its policy of promoting democratization of Belarus. “But to take an active part in this process, it is necessary to meet a set of requirements”, told the ambassador.

It is to be mentioned, that the European Union is ready to increase the volume of assistance to Belarus on condition of certain demands implementation by the Belarusian authorities. The European Union suggests simplification of the procedure of Belarusian citizens’ entrance to the EU, assistance to the Belarusian economy , support of the small and medium-sized business, upgrade of Belarusian enterprises for their functioning at the European market.

The EU also suggests its assistance in legal and judicial reform and in transport and power supply system upgrade. Moreover, the European Union is going to increase the scholarships for training at the European universities.

The EU also offers the increase of financial assistance to the country.

The European Union demands the following from Belarus: to liberate all the political prisoners , investigate political kidnapping cases , hold free and fair election , stop interfering with court proceedings, provide access to independent information for Belarusians, stop interfering with the private business, respect the rights of public institutions and independent trade-unions, observe the rights of national minorities.