Authorities organize fairs and sportive events to block People's Assembly
Babruisk
The People's Assembly in Babruisk will be held near the
shopping house “Vesta”. Everybody knows about it, including the authorities, as
one of its organizers, Viktar Buzinayeu, sent invitations to this action to
police officers and local officials.
In response to the invitation the authorities decided to hold the fair
“Babruiskaya Vosen” on the ground near the shopping house. On summer Wednesdays
similar fairs were organized in the places of silent protest actions. During
the previous years the “Babruiskaya Vosen” was held near the central city
market. The fair will last since 10
a.m. till 5 p.m.
Viktar Buzinayeu's reaction to it is quite possible. :I wasn't surprised by the
fair”, he says. “Earlier they used to “mine” the square, now they will trade
there. They arranged everything within a couple of days. It think it is a
positive change: the people who come to the Assembly will feel safe, as they
can say that they came there to buy potatoes!”
The activist also stated that members of the organizing committee of the
People's Assembly had collected the necessary number of signatures for holding
it legally.
A football tournament in honor of Haharyn Street is held on 8 October in order
to prevent the participation of students of the mechanic-techological
vacational school, the building college, the oil-chemistry vocational school
and the machine-engineering college in the People's Assembly.
Even the students who come from other towns and villages were banned to go home
for the weekend. They can either play football personally or watch it as
supporters. Their presence will be attentively checked by the administration of
the educational institutions.
Barysau
In Barysau, the People's Assembly will take place at 1 p.m. on 8 October near
the city stadium (which is an officially allowed place for mass events).
However, the authorities decided to hold a sportive event for school-children
there at this very time. This information was voiced at the assembly of
schoolmasters at the Barysau City Executive Committee. There it was also said
that the event was organized in order to prevent the presence of teenagers in
the People's Assembly. Pupils of the last grades will be drawn to “publicly
useful” work on the territory of their schools at the time of the assembly. It
was even proposed to draw their parents to such work, too.
“It's difficult to imagine a more effective advertisement of the People's
Assembly, as the parents who didn't know anything about it will get an
opportunity to join it during the sportive event,” say organizers of the
assembly.
