Even Jesus not allowed to live in Belarus

A Budlsau pilgrim was detained for a T-shirt with a slogan “Long live Christ the Lord”.

Police detained a pilgrim from the town of Hlubokaye Uladzimir at a festival in Budslau. Policemen turned attention to him due to his T-shirt with a picture of martyred priest Mieczyslaw Bohatkiewicz and a slogan “Long live Christ the Lord”.

Uladzimir says he was detained as he was passing through barriers to get to the church from the camping site. Police officers said they didn't like his T-shirt and guarded him to a police station.

A police chief talked to the pilgrim for 15 minutes asking where and at what price he brought the T-shirt, who priest Bohatliewicz was and if the T-shirt meant the pilgrim belongs to some sort of organizations. The pilgrim was allowed to go after the talk.

The website westki.info reports that there were cases in previous years when police detained participants of the Budlau Fest for no reasons.

Mieczyslaw Bohatkiewicz (1904-19420) is a martyred Catholic priest. He served in Drysa (now Verkhnedzvinsk) during the Nazi occupation. He got arrested by the Gestapo and executed on March 4, 1942, in Barok forest near Hlubokaye with two other priests – Wladyslaw Mackowiak and Stanislaw Pyrtek. The priests shouted out “Long live Christ the Lord!' before being shot. In 1999, Pope John Paul II declared blessed the priests executed in Barok.

We remind the festival in honour of the Mother of God in Budlsau started with protests against strict pass control by police. Pilgrims from the Vitesbk  Diocese came to the barriers, prayed and returned home not entering the territory of the fest.

The compulsory search procedure was introduced 3 years ago with rules become stricter every year. This year, umbrellas were added to the list of things forbidden on the territory of the festival. Catholic priests think it is purposeful humiliation of pilgrims by the authorities. Many religious people stopped visiting the Budslau Festival not to undergo humiliating search procedures.