Heroes of Slutsk uprising paid memory (Photo)

On November 23, the cultural commission of the Belarusian Popular Front organised actions dedicated to anniversary of the Slutsk uprising.

Participants of the trip visited Hrozava village, where regiment of rebels was formed, and Semezhava village, a place of cruel battles between rebels and Red Army forces. The trip ended in Slutsk near a former building of Vainilovich palace, where Belarusian Council of Slutsk took place and the uprising was announced to have started, Radio Svaboda reports.

The organisers weren’t able to hold all scheduled festive events. The Slutsk authorities didn’t permit meetings near the museum and the sporting stadium. As BPF activist Franak Vyachorka, one of the organisers of the trip, said, a library, the museum and 2 Protestant Churches rejected premises for film Slutsk Uprising demonstration.

Two crosses to Slutsk rebels were installed in Semzhava and Hrozava, and participants of the trip lit oil lamps. Famous regional historian Anton Astapovich guided the excursion. Stas Bahdanau, activist of the BPF Youth, read out an address by President of the Belarusian National Republic Ivonka Survilla, dedicated to the 88th anniversary of Slutsk uprising.

The participants of the trip unfurled a white-red-white flag and marched from the center of the village to palace of Miraeuski and back in Hrozava village. Representatives of the Kapyl militia were waiting for them near the bus. They ordered not to unfurl white-red-white flags and asked about their further route.

By the way, militia showed great interest in this action. Officers of traffic militia stopped the bus, they asked about the participants of the trip, their number and the route. When the bus arrived in Slutsk, militia had been waiting for it. Militiamen escorted the participants of the trip, who moved to the local historic museum (former house of Vainilovich), where the excursion ended.

Militia officers warned the local activists of responsibility, if the excursion would remind a street action.

Activists of the Belarusian section of Memorial organisation plan to carry out a similar trip on the sites of the Sluts uprising on 30 November.

The Slutsk uprising (The Slutsk defence action) was an armed attempt to defend the independence of Belarus in the region of the town of Slutsk in November-December 1920. Military regiments of local inhabitants opposed the Soviet army fro about a month. Actions of memory to the Day of Heroes have been traditionally marked since early 1990s.