Participants of Football Tournament in Barysau Are Detained for Use of Banned Belarusian Symbols

According to RFE/RL

On 30 July in Barysau the police detained the activists of a number of youth organizations who took part in the football tournament for the Cup of Independence.

The tournament for the Cup of Independence has been carried out in Barysau for five years already. On 30 July the football crews from Maladechna, Mahiliou, Minsk, Smaliavichy and Barysau took part in it. The police paid interest to this sports event and detained four participants, members of such movements as Zubr, Free Belarus and Volat.

The chair of the youth center Volat Dzmitry Barodka says:
-- The detainees wanted to mark the corners with the field with small corner flags before the beginning of the tournament. The flags were white-red-white they carried them in their hands. A police patrol detained them and took to a police station where they were kept for about five hours. The police even composed a report on one of the detainees, member of the Volat center Alies Hihiel.

The representative of Barysau DBP explained that the guys were detained for carrying prohibited banners and would be summonsed for a “prophylactic talk”.