Anarchist group says they seized Belarusian Embassy in St. Petersburg

Today afternoon a group of activists of anarchist movement in Petersburg entered the branch of the Belarusian Embassy in St. Petersburg.

As “Gazeta.ru” reports, they demanded release of their Belarusian comrades, arrested during the previous months.

After they vocalized their demands, they refused to leave the compound of the embassy and said they occupy the territory until their demands complied with.

They stated that repressions against anarchists and other activists in Belarus started after a Molotov cocktail was thrown to the compound of the Russian Embassy in Minsk on August 30. It damaged one of the cars of the embassy. A previously unknown anarchist group “Friends of freedom” claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the attack had been carried out as a sign of solidarity with defenders of Khimki forest.

“It is obvious that in the run up to the presidential election on December 19, 2010 the authorities want to tighten the screws and fight against “extremists” and other dissenters. By a strange coincidence, the hunt against activists started on the same day when Aleh Byabenin, the founder of the oppositional website charter97.org was found dead,” they stated.

As said by them, rallies in support of the detained had already been held in Berlin, Vienna, Vilnius and Moscow.

However officials of the diplomatic corps of Belarus in St. Petersburg denied comments on the situation. The law-enforcing agencies of the Central district of Petersburg say that there had been no police called out to Bonch-Bruevich Street where the embassy is situated.