Eyewitness tells about beating of participants of protest action at the border crossing point Bruzgi
An eyewitness said that policemen threw the protesters into the paddy wagon and continued to beat them there. The interlocutor of RFE/RL saw at least 10 beaten persons. He said that there were about one hundred of participants in the protest.
“People defended their lives.
If could be not always legal, but people didn’t have other choice. Everyone
knows who is to blame for the current economic situation. Diesel fuel is not to
blame for that,” said the eyewitness of the events.
As said by another witness of the events, people were furious as they cannot go
to Poland
every day now. Not all people are travelling there to sell diesel fuel, some
have their business in Poland,
or their relatives live there. Now it that people cannot go at any moment which
is convenient for them. People really were not allowed to cross the border
yesterday, he said.
On 12 June a spontaneous protest at Bruzgi border-crossing point was cruelly disbanded by Hrodna riot policemen. According to reports, dozens were beaten up and arrested. Riot policemen used tear gas while disbanding the protest rally. People were protesting against the ban on exporting a number of Belarusian goods imposed by the Belarusian authorities. This trade was the main source of income for border-zone dwellers for many years.
