Mikalai Dzyamidzenka: “It’s not the first time when the authorities demonstrate their beast face”
- 15.05.2009, 11:46
The “Young Front” activist, who has been on hunger strike for ten days, commented on the dispersal of the rally on May 14.
On February 14, Mikalai Dzyamidzenka took part in a march “For Independence!” organized by “Young Front”.
“I can’t say why the authorities acting like this,” Mikalai Dzyamidzenka told in an interview to the Charter’97 press center. “But it’s not the first time when they demonstrate their beast face. I think that amid economic crisis, in this hard time when the authorities are trying to contact with Europe, they want to show who is a boss in the country and behave in such a brutal way towards the youth. Our action on February 14 showed this, and the today’s rally proved this, too. If our activists managed to go to the square on February 14, they were not allowed to do this today. I don’t know how many “Young Front” activists are in militia departments now, but I think many of them.“
Riot militiamen were snatching national white-red-white flags from hands with especial hatred during the rally “For Independence!”
“Maybe special films are shown to riot militiamen. Maybe, they are pressed psychologically. But it is the fact, their reaction to national symbols is inadequate,” the “Young Front” leader thinks.
After the rally “For Independence!” Mikalai Dzyamidzenka is going to continue hunger strike of solidarity with leaders of entrepreneurs Mikalai Autukhovich, Yury Lyavonau, and Uladzimir Asipenka.
“I feel rather badly, but this doesn’t hinder me to take part in rallies,” the youth leader says. “I am returning to the BPF headquarters today, where we will continue the hunger strike.”
It should be reminded that the opposition rally dedicated to the 14th anniversary of referendum on changing national symbols and introducing two state languages was brutally dispersed today in Minsk.
Participants of “For Independence!” rally were encircled by riot militia, who kept people in the circle for an hour and didn’t allowed them to go Independence square.
