Homel BNC Activists Fight Against Urban Densification

Homel residents are outraged by the illegal plans of the authorities to demolish private buildings in the regional center.

City residents protest against densification. Opposition activists have been rallying to their defense, the Belarusian National Congress website bnknews.org reports. Homel BNC coordinator Ales Yauseyanka describes the conflict:

People are evicted from their private houses. Instead of the housing that is to be demolished, the city authorities offer buffer stock apartments, costing much lower. Moreover, they are to be privatized, though the houses, from which their owners are evicted, are privately owned. The elderly people, who live in the center of Homel, are sent to the outskirts with no infrastructure.

According to the law, the housing to be demolished, is supposed to be bought from its owner. The city executive committee appoints an official to estimate its cost. But it’s impossible to buy an apartment for the money that the authorities offer for a house in the center of the city – it is not enough even for a wooden house on the outskirts. It goes without saying that people protest against this and reach out to us for help. Residents are ready to protest and have already held some meetings against the demolition of their homes.

In response, the authorities decided to take it out on journalists. On August 4, an administrative trial against Larysa Shchyrakova started. She made a video report about one of the meetings of residents of Savietski district of Homel. Dozens of city residents, BNC activists among them, attended the trial. Some of them put sticky tape over their mouth in protest. The court hearing was postponed until August 9.

On the initiative of Homel activists, the BNC Rada adopted a statement demanding a moratorium on the demolition of private housing before a new law "On the protection of private property in housing" is issued.

– An unprecedented seizure of lands under the private houses of our citizens takes place in the country, – the document says. – Private houses of citizens are destroyed against their will, causing damage not only to them, but also to the historical, cultural and material heritage of the country. All this happens under the guise of state needs, but in fact it is a robbery for the profit of those who are in charge of these processes.

The statement says that these events result in growing social tension, people's discontent is approaching a critical level.

The BNC Rada demands that the government of Belarus works out a law "On protection of private property on housing" and set a moratorium on the demolition of private housing of citizens until the law has been adopted. Only vacant and abandoned buildings can be excluded.