Activist Chains Himself To Builders’ MAZ Vehicle In Kurapaty

Siarhei Palcheuski lied down under the truck wheels and chained himself to the bumper with handcuffs.

“I am going to lie here till I die,” — Siarhei Palcheuski has told Radio Liberty journalists. He has said he realizes it is a radical move, but he sees no other way to stop the construction.

Palcheuski is lying on the wet and cold ground in a raincoat, and refuses from any help of the present, even the hot tea.

The action for the Kurapaty defense has lasted for the fifth day. The construction works have been resumed despite the protests, the appeals to the KGB and the officials’ statements on possible suspension of the construction.

In the evening on February 23, the activists and the local residents held a mass meeting and started collection of signatures against the construction. The “Association for Protection of Monuments” filed appeals to the KGB and the Chief Construction Expertise.

In the night before February 23, a group of 15 masked men attacked the camp of the Kurapaty defenders with wooden bats. They destroyed the camp with the shouts “White Race!” and “Glory Russia!”, and injured one of the activists, Ales Kirkevich, having hit him in the temple with a wooden bat.