Zmitser Paramon: “I was protecting my head from blows” (Photo, video)

Zmitser Paramon, an activist of the BPF Youth, tells how his clavicle was broken by riot militiamen.

Democratic activists planned a bike ride dedicated to Belarusian poet Maxim Bahdanovich, but were brutally beaten by the militia.

“We were attacked by militiamen near the Minsk-Hero City stela. They snatched national white-red-white flags and tried to get off shirts with a picture of the Chase court-of-arms. Franak Vyachorka was knocked down and kicked. I tried to defend him, but riot militiamen pushed him into a bus and attacked me. I was protecting my head from blows as three riot militiamen were beating me. They later said in the report I “took a fighting stance”. I was knocked down, too. They broke my collarbone with a hit and threw me into the bus. I got some blows on the way to the Tsentralny district militia department. I had to sit on the floor, because militiamen said I couldn’t sit in a seat. When we came to the department, it was evident I had a clavicle fracture. An emergency ambulance was called. I am in hospital now. I have already filed a complaint to a prosecutor’s office. I wait for results of a medical examination,” Zmitser Paramon told to European Belarus website.