Brest authorities ban pickets

Recently the civil activists Raman Kisliak, Iryna Laurouskaya and Dzianis Turchyniak have received from Brest city executive committee an answer to their application for authorization of a series of pickets.

The answer was signed by the deputy head of the CEC Khafizau. The activist intended to hold the pickets on 15, 16 and 17 January on the pavement of Hohal Street in the center of Brest with the aim to draw public attention to the present appearance of the monument marking the 1000th anniversary of the city and call the authorities to stop forced collection of financial means for the monument.

The official reasons for the refusal are as follows:

1. Brest city executive committee determined only one place for all such actions – desolate Lokomotive stadium where very few people would watch the actions. The stadium is situated at the city outskirts and is ringed with a high concrete fence. Near it there is a locomotive depot, so no one would even hear that there is some action.

2. The authorities consider all discussions about the appearance of the monument inexpedient and state that ‘free donations’ of citizens witness the approval of the chosen variant of the monument.

According to Raman Kisliak, financial means are forcedly collected from Brest dwellers and the activists are going to struggle against it.