Riot police raid punk festival in Biaroza

A DIY punk music festival was brutally dispersed by riot policemen in the Biaroza district on July 2, reports in social networks say.

The concert, which took place in the forest outside the town of Biaroza, Brest region, was suddenly stopped by several police buses and traffic police cars. As a result, about 30 persons were detained by masked policemen. All of them faced administrative charges of disorderly conduct.

The detainees were taken to the town police department. Most of them were released the same evening. Six people were held before the trial, which took place on Monday. During the trial, the detainees were fined 630,000 rubles each.

Later it became known that four persons faced criminal charges under Art. 364 of the Criminal Code (violence or threat of violence against a law enforcement officer). Among them are Valery Kabernik and Ihar Audzeyenka, the names of the two remaining detainees are not yet known. During the trial, Valery Kabernik had numerous bruises on his head, reports say. Other reports claim that Ihar Audzeyenka’s nose has been broken. These four are currently held in the local detention center.

Each year, dozens of open-air music festivals take place across Belarus and they are often dispersed by the police. In particular, in early August 2015 police officers detained fifty participants of an illegal concert near Minsk. Most were released the same evening, two people spent the night in the police station, and three more were later stood trial.

In August 2013, more than 100 participants of a hardcore and punk festival were detained near Vilejka. Many of them were convicted of disorderly conduct.