"Flag Was Saved"

A Minsker recalls how she retrieved a white-red-white flag from riot policemen.

On March 25 this year, rallies dedicated to Freedom Day were held in Minsk and in some regional cities, including Vitsebsk, vkurier.by writes.

Then a huge number of the unauthorized event participants were detained across the country.

Some of them were released soon, and others were subsequently brought to administrative responsibility and sentenced to a longtime administrative arrest or to a solid fine.

One of the March 25 victims, 45-year-old Hanna Ivanova (her name and surname has been changed at the woman’s request), an employee of a private Minsk company, has told her story.

According to the woman, on Freedom Day she was at Yakub Kolas Square in Minsk among other people, when the riot police rushed in and started detaining the protesters.

"I was "pulled out" from the crowd, because I was with a flag. By the head and ears – and into a paddy wagon," – the Minsker says.

Together with other people, Hanna was taken to the Pervamaiski District Police Department, taken there, placed near the wall, then brought to a room looking like a gym. The department employees note down the data of the woman's passport, but didn’t draw up a protocol, and after a couple of hours Hanna and another girl were called out and commanded:

"Take your things and get out."

The women were led to the gate and released. Hanna even managed to save the flag.