Police Do Not Let Regional Activists to Minsk for Social March

On the eve of the Social March, similarly to any opposition rally, policemen blocked access to Minsk for regional opposition activists. ‘Policemen in mufti tried to enter my apartment on 4 November in the morning. I didn’t open the doors to them. They were continually standing near my house till 2 p.m., when the Social March ended in Minsk. They asked neighbors about me. I even couldn’t go shopping,’ said a democratic activist from Barysau Zmitser Barodka.

Unknown people rang him up before the rally. An unknown person asked the politician whether he planned to go to Minsk on 4 November. The man put down the receiver when asked to introduce himself.

The opposition activists Anatol Askerka, Maryna Statkevich and Leu Marholin were blocked at home as well.

The chairperson of Hrodna city United Civil Party office Yury Istomin and 10 people going to Minsk to join the Social March were detained. The road police stopped their minivan 10 km from Hrodna claiming the vehicle had been stolen. The detained activists were taken to the town of Skidzel to study the incident.

The minivan with supporters of Aliaksandr Kazulin and liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl tragedy was detained by the road police when driving out from Hrodna.

The Party of Communists of Belarusian couldn’t leave Vitsebsk: the car driven by head of Vitsebsk city organization of the party Mikalai Selivashka was stopped by the police. The passengers were taken to Vitsebsk oblast road police department.

The police said they were to verify the minivan’s owner, head of the city organization of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada Volha Shpakouskaya and head of the regional organization Anatol Hneuka told RFE/RL. The police had no claims against the passengers, and the party members have to seek other ways to get to Minsk.