Andrei Stryzhak: Street Actions Will Make Authorities Respect People

The authorities initiated the protest actions by their talentless policy.

Judge of the Central district of Homel Andrei Karmanovich sentenced activist of the Independent Trade Union of the Radio-Electronic Industry Workers (REP) Andrei Stryzhak to 10 days of administrative detention.

Right after the pronouncement of the sentence, the activist gave a comment to the website Charter97.org.

- This sentence will in no way affect my activity, as I have been engaged into the human rights defense for many years, as well as into the development of the trade union movement. I am totally ready for any situation of the kind. Nothing supernatural happened. We continue the active preparation for the action of March 25, and I am sure the people will come out to protest regardless of anything.

I want to emphasize that the participants of the actions should remember: the authorities are trying to repress political activists, journalists, human rights activists, that is, those who, in their opinion, are the organizers of mass protests, rather than ordinary Belarusians who come out to the square.

Any sane person who lives in Belarus realizes that the protests have been initiated by the authorities themselves, by their talentless economic and socio-political component.

- What would you like to tell Belarusians before the Freedom Day?

- March 25 remains a very important day from the point of view of what we must show to the authorities: they should never talk to the people from the position of force, as it’s the people who remain a carrier of the state power.

I really want, just like all the other Belarusians, our state power to be adequate, replaceable, democratic, and, to achieve that, we need to go out and hold protest actions.

This system has been elaborated in the West, everyone knows there is no point in sitting there for more than two terms in a row. However, only street actions can make our authorities understand that.

Important to note, the leaders of the Belarusian National Congress have called on their co-citizens from Minsk and the regions to come out to the protest action on the Freedom Day on March 25 in the capital, and to hold the protest actions in their cities on March 26.