Minsk: Police Detain Six Youth Activists
According to RFE/RL
On 2 May in Aliaksandrauski Square near Ianka Kupala Theater the special police forces detained six participants of the protest actions in Kastrychnitskaia Square of 19-25 March - Aliaksei Kazulin (nephew of Aliaksandr Kazulin, former candidate to presidency), Siarhei Ilkevich, Aliaksandr Reznikau, Dzianis Rydzeuski, Iauhen Shcharbakou and Volha Zhurauliova. The detainees were taken to the police station in Karl Marx Street. The reason for the detention was that they wore badges ‘For Freedom!’ and white-red-white stripes.
‘The police squad detained us for waring badges. They said: ‘Let’s go to the police station’. They called us ‘animals’ and composed on us reports for petty hooliganism (swearning). Three of us are students and we don’t want to have any new papers sent to the places of study,’ said Siarhei Ilkevich. The police released the detainees after they refused to sign the reports, but they can be summonsed to court for trials.
