Honour or profit. Picketing McDonald’s in London (Photo)

A protest action was caused by involvement of the fast-food chain in legal proceedings against participants of the post-election demonstration in Belarus.

Activists of Free Belarus Now campaign held an action “Honour or Profit” opposite a McDonald’s in London centre from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm on Wednesday, May 18.

The protest action was a response to involvement of a Minsk McDonald’s branch in court proceedings against demonstrators. Clams of McDonald’s and Evroset store on lost profits on December 19, during protests against the rigged presidential elections, were attached to the cases against the accused.

The protest action in London was organized by the campaign Free Belarus Now! and the Belarus Free Theatre. The aim was turning public attention to a choice between profit and honour that business structures face. Coordinator of Free Belarus Now! Campaign Iryna Bahdanava, the sister of presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, who was sentenced to five years’ prison term, said about the action: “We had a hope that McDonald’s company would make an unambiguously statement dissociating itself from this idea of the authorities of drawing commercial structures into dirty political games. We are carrying about this action to let business structures give a sober estimation of the reality and understand that their activity is controlled by society.”

Activists of Free Belarus Now campaign, staff of the Belarus Free Theatre, Belarusian and British public figures took part in the picket. Hundreds of leaflets informing about the situation in Belarus and crackdown on political activists and public figures were handed round.

The Independent, one of the British leading papers, has published an article about McDonald’s and trials in Belarus ahead of the picket.