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Bresters Continue To Protest Against Construction Of Battery Plant

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Bresters Continue To Protest Against Construction Of Battery Plant
PHOTO: SVABODA.ORG

The activists are going to bring the issue to the international level.

Rallies and pickets of opponents of construction of the plant are prohibited. However, the Brest residents continue coming to the Lenin Square on Sundays - they stand in groups, do not sound slogans, do not show any banners, but communicate and feed pigeons.

However, even this is regarded by the authorities as an unlawful act. The local authorities responded even more harshly to the collection of signatures for the resignation of the Brest officials.

One of the participants in the initiative group of opponents of building the battery plant, UCP activist Aliaksandr Kabanau told ucpb.org about the events in Brest:

"We unhinderedly collected 40 thousand signatures under the appeal to the administration of Lukashenka against the construction of a plant, which is unsafe for the residents of the region. However, our authorities did not react to it in any way. Then people started collecting signatures for the resignation of the Brest officials, who do nothing to prevent the construction of the enterprise. And the authorities immediately began to severely suppress us. Six people were detained. The trials are in progress. People get fined. There is constant pressure on the participants of the initiative group, on their children. In college and other institutions, children are told things like, tell your parents not to stick out.

We received a response from the "House of Representatives", where it is clearly stated that the collection of signatures is not a mass event, and no permit is needed to collect signatures. Still, they draft protocols against us, as they say, this is an unauthorized event. There is no evidence that this was a picket, no, only the statements of police officers. At the same time, the provided video record shows that there was simply a collection of signatures. "

The authorities have no legal motive, however, repression continues.

"There was a brutal detention of a minor guy in the square on Sunday: they put an armlock on him and threw him into the paddy waggon," - says Aliaksandr Kabanau. - We have the facts that the Health Department of the Brest region has given the command to fire doctors who get into the plant's theme. And this is already happening. Participant of the initiative group, doctor Tatsiana Fesikova took part in the authorized rally "Brest Lady against Lead". The next day she was fired over made-up reasons. She failed to achieve re-employment through the court, although she had worked at the place for 16 years before, and there had been no complaints. This year alone I was completely groundlessly detained 6 times, I spent almost a week in detention.

Any mass event of opponents of the construction of the battery is now banned. They are practically deprived of the opportunity to convey their arguments to a wide circle of people. The authorities are afraid of this. They also fear that the number of people at a permitted rally may be several times higher than they could predict.

"We filed 16 applications for rallies, marches, pickets, massive and single - everywhere a refusal, including in Minsk," - continues Aliaksandr Kabanau. - The initiative group tried to make an appointment directly with Lukashenka. But everyone understands that this is practically unrealistic. I think, it is necessary that the General Prosecutor's Office should deal with this directly. "

Aliaksandr Kabanau calls to stop the construction of the dangerous plant and the repression against the opponents of this project. He is convinced that democratic parties and organizations can play an important role in this:

"The partners of the Belarusian opposition in the countries of the European Union must know what is happening in Brest. We are ready to provide all the documents, including the ones confirming violations of the norms of environmental legislation.

In the situation of repressions of the authorities, violations of our constitutional rights, we need the support of democratic parties and organizations, at least at the level of a joint statement. "

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