Provocations at public hearings on Belarusian nuclear power station in Astravets

The public hearings of the preliminary report on the evaluation of the possible influence of the Belarusian nuclear power station on the environment have started in Astravets. Ecologists, scientists, civil activists and journalists from Belarus and Russia gathered in the town, near which the ground for the station is already being prepared. However, not all of those who wanted to get to the Astravets cinema, where the hearings were held, were let in.

‘At 10 a.m., when the guards started letting the people in, half of the cinema hall was already occupied. There are many people who were brought just to get the places filled. Most of them are the local dwellers, indifferent to the upcoming construction of a nuclear power station there. As a result of this ‘action’ of the authorities many ecologists and civil activists cannot enter the hall and are standing at the entrance. However, when it is necessary to sit some state officials there, the people with the ‘Volunteer’ badges come and tell some of those who were brought to fill the seats to go out. That’s how the places for the officials are obtained,’ said Yan Roudzik.

In addition, Astravets police detained the nuclear physicist Andrey Azharovskiy, coordinator of the Moscow group Eco-defense. At present Mr. Azharovskiy is giving testimony at the police station. The police confiscated from him about 100 copies of the Critical remarks on the preliminary report about the possible influence of the Belarusian nuclear power station on the environment.

At the same time, the police didn’t confiscate any leaflets in support of the construction of the nuclear power station. Bear in mind that today’s hearings are the first to be initiated by the authorities. All previous ones were held by civil society activists.