Belarusian Take to Streets of Minsk on Freedom Day :: Charter'97 :: News

Thousands of Belarusians have gathered today to the center of Minsk on Independence (Skaryna) Avenue. Today our country celebrates Freedom Day. People couldn’t get into October Square, where the beginning of the rally had been planned. The square was been cordoned off by policemen and riot policemen since morning. The opposition leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich is heading the column of demonstrators. He has congratulated people on the holiday through a megaphone. In response to that policemen started to disband the rally. Hundreds of policemen and riot policemen are squeezing off people marching along Independence Avenue. Policemen beat demonstrators on their backs, brutally pushing them off the avenue.

At the same moment thousands of people have gathered on the other part of the prospect. They are cut off by police and cannot get to October Square. A vice president of the European Parliament Janusz Onyszkiewicz, deputies of the European parliament, Polish Sejm, German Bundestag, Russia’s State Duma have arrived to observe the opposition rally. Representatives of the OSCE office, ambassadors of the EU countries and the US.