"Even If Single Person Defends Kurapaty, It Will Draw Response Across Country"

Defenders of Kurapaty have been protesting for more than a month.

The defense of Kurapat is, above all, a moral matter. Novy Chas editor-in-chief Aksana Kolb said that in her interview to Radio Racyja. For more than a month, Belarusian activists have been protesting against the Let’s Go Get Some Eats restaurant, which is built within the protective zone of the memorial to the victims of Stalin's repressions in Kurapaty and has already started to work.

"The authorities have always wished to erase the memory of Kurapaty, – the journalist says. – Hence this problem arose: – It is a moral and political one. On the one hand, this is the obvious unwillingness of the authorities to recognize the existence of such a place. And not only to recognize, but to honor the victims of the totalitarian regime. And on the other hand, the desire to belittle this place by all means. As in this case, by building an entertainment complex.

Dozens of activists come to the gates of the restaurant every day.

– Even if there is one person there, this means, that this issue is to be discussed. This cannot have a wide resonance, because we cannot force every person, who is full of his own affairs, has his own troubles, to come to Kurapaty and defend it. Moreover, not all the people approve of such radical protests. But I want to emphasize that it is the radicalization of the protest which made it possible to draw attention to this issue, – the journalist says.