Minsk authorities ban pillow fight dedicated to anniversary of battle of Orsha

The Minsk City Executive Committee refused to authorize the action Pillow Fight which was planned for 8 September to mark the Battle of Orsha.

Social activist Andrei Kim submitted the application for conduct of the action in the Yanka Kupala Park and received the answer signed by the Deputy Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee.

‘The grounds were quite simple: Mikhail Tsitsiankou said that he did not understand the event as it was silly, and that is why he would prohibit it. And he added that the official reason of the denial would be the building of a heating main. The heating main, in fact, is being built at the distance of a half kilometer from that place. Besides we submitted the applications to three other places right after the refusal, and they were not satisfied for some farfetched reasons,’ said Mr. Kim.

The organizers of Pillow Fight still intend to conduct the action on 8 September but are going to change its format. They decided not to announce the time and place of the action publicly. Bear in mind that tens of people were detained during the previous pillow fight that was dedicated to the Battle of Grunwald, and Andrei Kim was detained and fined as the organizer of the action.