Teachers and Students Get Sized by Police at Picket in Defense of Belarusian State Humanitarian Lyceum

On 23 June teachers of Belarusian National Humanitarian Lyceum composed applications to the lyceum director Uladzimir Kolas that they will retire from September 1 if new lyceum administration was appointed. Teachers, who work at the lyceum on partial basis, joined them.

At 5 p.m. on 24 June in Yakub Kolas Square in Minsk pupils of Belarusian State Humanitarian Lyceum, their parents and teachers held an unauthorized picket to protect their educational establishment. About 50 people took part in it. The majority were under aged pupils. They were wearing T-shirts with the inscriptions “I Love Lyceum” and similar posters.

In some minutes after the action beginning the police came to the Square, Headed by Hurankow, vice-Chair of Savetski BBIA. The policemen started to forcibly push participants out of the square, warning that the picket is unauthorized. They detained the lyceum’s vice-director Liavon Barshchewski and took him to Savetski BBIA. At 5.50 they released him without composing any reports. During the action they also detained Arkadz Shainski, journalist of “Nasha Niva” who was executing his professional duty with dictophone in hand, and one of the picket participants, as student of Journalist Department of Belarusian State University. At 6 p.m. the detainees were still at the BBIA. The “Viasna” observer Uladzimir Labkovich who went there, phoned and said that soon, after indentification, the detainees would be released.

Information Department of PA HRC "Viasna"