Brest Protests: It Will Work Because All Residents Stand Against Plant Construction

The rebellion of the Brest residents against the construction of a dangerous battery plant continues.

The protest against the construction of a battery plant near Brest continues. Over 15,000 signatures have been collected against a potentially dangerous object, BelSat reports.

The position of the authorities remains unchanged: the plant passed all the necessary examinations and will be completely safe.

The signatures against the battery plant construction were collected in 9 Brest districts on January 21.

“We collect signatures for the prohibition of the construction of the battery plant,” — said Ihar Maskouski, the activist of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party (Assembly).

His fellow party member Siarhei Mazan notes the following:

“Because such things as building a battery plant require discussing with the people who live nearby. It was not done, but now it's being done insincerely — just to get rid of it.”

The website Charter97.org repeatedly reported on the protests against the construction of the “iPower” battery plant by businessman Viktar Lemiasheuski in Brest. Residents of the Brest district, with whom the authorities organized a discussion only after a broad coverage of the topic in the media, do not agree with the conclusions of the state ecologists regarding the safety of lead emissions. They require an independent examination or suspension of the construction of the plant.

At the meeting in the village of Telmi-1, the owner of the plant Viktar Lemiasheuski stated that he would show all the documents relating to the environmental safety of the project, and also offered to look at his other plants. True, neither in Belaaziorsk, nor in Pinsk, they were happy to see the bloggers.

In addition, as it turned out, they deceived the non-indifferent Brest residents not only in words, but also in numbers.

“We were told that there would be three kilograms of emissions a year. But they incorrectly translated seconds in years and grams into tons! Accordingly, if we independently take their protocol and translate these figures, we will see that there is 12 kilograms [of emissions]! That is, they lied by four times!”— volunteer Mikhail Haluza is indignant.

And this, of course, outrages the inhabitants of Brest.

“There are zones of alienation — our so-called environmentalists say that it is possible to plant, grow something there. Well, let them put these plants there!” — a resident of the city says.

Another Brest woman notes:

“It will surely work. Desire is the main thing here. After all, the people are against it. All the people!”.

There has been no clear answer from the authorities to the Brest residents how to stop the project or even move a potentially dangerous plant far away. So, there will be even more “against” signatures and outraged citizens.

“People sign very actively. That is, almost every passer-by comes up and signs, or says that they have already signed and goes by,” — says activist Aliaksandr Kabanau.