Smaliavichy dissenters pass signatures to district authorities
On Friday, 2 August, activists of the
movement against the construction of the Belarusian-Chinese
industrial park passed to the Smaliavichy District Executive
Committee 749 signatures under the protest statement.
"We
will continue to collect signatures”, said the activist of the
campaign Aksana Zelianeuskaya, “The formal public hearings end on 3
August, but we will not end collecting signatures on that day. The
authorities must know about the public opinion! After passing the
signatures to the Smaliavichy DEC, we walked downtown Smaliavichy and
talked with the people. Not a single person supported the idea of the
industrial park. The main argument is that many people with other
culture and traditions will come there, and how will Belarusians live
in their own country then?"
The activists continue to
collect signatures not only in Minsk and Smaliavichy district. "This
is not a special campaign”, says Aksana Zelianeuskaya. “The
activists will communicate with people in all parts of Belarus,
explaining how unreasonable it is to construct the industrial park in
Smaliavichy, in an ecologically clean area. After all, it is a
question on the scale of the whole country! And the authorities will
not be able to leave the views of many citizens without reaction. The
decision whether to build or not to build the industrial park must be
taken by all citizens of Belarus, best of all – by means of a
referendum. We are struggling for it."
