No premises for Congress of Belarusians
On 7 May the Republican Art gallery in Minsk, owned by the Artists’ Union, refused to lend premises to the World Alliance of Belarusians Batskawshchyna the premises for holding the 5th Congress of the organization.
In the official letter signed by the director A.Zinkevich, it is stated that there is no possibility to give premises because of alleged ‘contract of lease signed earlier’, Nasha Niva reports with reference to the press-service of Batskawshchyna.
The administration of Batskawshchyna emphasizes that initially the variant to hold the congress in the Palace of Arts wasn’t considered, as the assembly hall is small there. However, after other organizations of Minsk denied premises, it was decided to apply to the Palace of Arts. It is also connected to the fact that the assembly hall belongs to the Belarusian Union of Artists, and sessions of the Belarusian Language Society and other Belarusian NGOs had been held there.
Earlier the Palace of Republic, the Palace of Trade Unions, the Palace of Culture of the MTZ (Minsk Tractor Plant), the Culture centre of MAZ (Minsk Automobile Plant), the Assembly Hall of Minsk Linguistic University, the House of Officers and others denied premises for the event. There are 18 denials altogether counting with the today’s one.
The 5th Congress of the World Alliance of Belarusians Batskawshchyna is planned for 18-19 July 2009. 400 delegates from 29 countries of the world are to take part in it. All the previous congresses which, held once in four years, have been held in Minsk. The administration of the Association does not rule out that the main forum of the Belarusian expatriate community would be held outside Belarus.
