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 | November 17, 2002
in Minsk hosted a rally and a meeting, dedicated to the protection of the Belarusian sovereignty. The action, initiated by BPF 'Adradjenne', Young Front and the Belarusian Liberty Party, was carried out under the slogans 'For independence!', 'Belarusian nation is the owner of its own country', 'For decent life', 'Belarus – into Europe!' 1,5 thousand people walked all the way from the Yakub Kolas square along the Skarina prospect towards the National Academy of sciences, near which they held their meeting. According to one of the action’s organizers, deputy chairman of the BPF party Viktor Ivashkevich, November 17 action is a starting point of our struggle for independence, European way of development, fair and honest local elections, scheduled for next spring. The campaign will culminate in the Freedom Day festivities on March 25, 2003. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | April 26, 2002
Around three thousand took part in the traditional opposition action “Chernobyl Shlyach”, marking the 16th anniversary since the Chernobyl explosion. A meeting and a mourning procession were of exclusively peaceful character. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | April 19, 2002
Over a hundred were arrested and beaten up by POLICE in central Minsk during the social action “Can’t Live Like That Anymore!”. Among the VICTIMS – WORLD-KNOWN FILMMAKER Yuri Khaschevatsky, professor Mikola Savitsky, journalist Valery Schukin, Charter’97 journalist Natalya Radina. The latter reports from the Sovietsky police station that 102 protesters are still being beaten by police in custody. Two people were carried away on ambulance with broken ribs and brain concussion. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | December 19, 2001
Fourth National Award For Human Rights Protection was presented today by the press center of Charter’97. Kurapaty defenders, who have spent several months by the burial place of thousands of Stalin era victims and who, day and night, stopped those who wanted to bulldoze the sacred place, got the award for personal courage. The award for a noble act in the area of human rights protection was presented to Zinaida Bandarenka, the National Artist of Belarus. In spite of intimidation of the regime she, the most famous TV newscaster of the country, took an active part in the election campaign of the single oppositional candidate in recent vote. Marina Koktysh, reporter of the independent newspaper “Narodnaya Volya”, was awarded Charter’97 prize for the best coverage of the theme of the missing prominent persons in Belarus in her series of articles. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | November 9, 2001
The Kuropaty defenders keep resisting police attempts to get the place cleared for the construction works. Over the past four days hundreds of Minskers visited the site, indignant with the barbarity of the authorities, which ruled to lay the ring road across the cemetery. In response, the government dispatched there riot police units to suppress the protest moods. The cruelest beating occurred in Kuropaty on November 8. Over two hundred riot police officers beat old people, women and teenagers with rubber clubs, heavy military boots, dragged them on the ground, threw down into the mud and again brutally beat… The police acted as real fascists: they beat everyone, including young ladies and children. Those who fell on the ground were heavily kicked. Nonetheless, a few guys rested on the road, yelling: “Fascists” at the attackers. During the dispersal the law-enforcers applied tear gas “Cheremukha” against the crowd. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | September 9, 2001
Despite cold rain around 3 thousand protesters took on September 9 to the Oktyabrskaya square of Minsk. Citizens of Europe’s last autocratic country were shouting “Freedom!” and “Long Live Belarus!” They were few, at least not as many as some expected, but they turned out to be the most courageous, the most united and the most faithful to their homeland people. Something that was going on in Belarus that night was supposed to rock not only ZUBR movement, whose activists were the only ones to have kept their word and come to the Oktyabrskaya square of Minsk in order to protest again lawlessness, which happened at the country’s precincts September 9. Threatening the observers, rigging the ballot sheets, closing down electoral stations on the voting day, raiding the offices of opposition parties and independent newspapers, arresting opposition activists and obstructing access to Internet and phone communications – is just a small glimpse at all violations, that took place during presidential elections. Unwilling to give up and entrust their future into the hands of dictator, who uses his country as a polygon for his insatiable ambitions, overnight Sept. 9-10 ZUBR activists stormed the Palace of trade unions and seized it after a short clash with the guards. Following a sleepless night, full of vain hopes and expectations, these people left the Palace. They were the last people to leave the battlefield, while the candidate from the united opposition, in whom they placed all their hopes, hastened to leave it first. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | August 27, 2001
Ahead of the upcoming elections in Belarus, Amnesty-VU has taken the opportunity to ask new students at the Free University to express solidarity with democratic forces in Belarus. Amnesty-VU is the studentgroup of Amnesty International, based on the Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The new students were photographed with a sign, saying "Free elections in Belarus", thus expressing their concerns about the disputed elections in Belarus. With this initiative the university freshmen want to contribute to fair and free elections on the 9th of September in Belarus. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | August 22, 2001
Over 500 people, worried about the destiny of the disappeared, deceased under dubious circumstances and imprisoned opponents of the ruling regime, surrounded into a circle Lukashenko’s residence on Karl Marx street 38. The people were raising portraits of Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky, Dmitry Zavadsky, Anatoly Maisenya, Valery Schukin and Andrei Klimov. The action attracted relatives of the repressed politicians: their wives, mothers and children. Earlier in the day there emerged fresh evidence, implicating top brass in human killings – confinement center #1 director colonel Oleg Alkaev stated that the abductions of opposition members had been orchestrated by SOBR special police unit. The people demanded that Alexander Lukashenko react on the information, voiced by Alkaev and others. For more than one hour they stayed across the street from the residence but nobody from the Administration came out to talk to them. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | Jule 27, 2001
A significant protest on Independence Day was held in Minsk by ZUBR resistance movement. At 12 o’clock on the Victory Square out of the blue several hundreds of guys with ZUBR logo T-shirts showed. They formed up in two lines along the Eternal Fire and laid white-red-white wreaths and many other flowers to the monument dedicated to the liberation of Belarus from fascist invaders. A column of five hundred ZUBRs headed down the sidewalks towards the Oktyabrskaya Square. After the police blocked their way, ZUBRs sat on the ground and took out photographs of the renowned figures disappeared in Belarus. During the protest rally about two dozens of people were detained. You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
 | Jule 03, 2001
200 ZUBR activists are right now marching along the emptied Skarina prospect. The prospect was cleared from strolling masses before the presidential relay race. The walkers were ousted to the sidewalks, while ZUBRs easily occupied the street. Before the eyes of dozen thousand marveled folks they marched all the way from the Oktyabrskaya towards the Independence square, shouting “Time to choose!”, “Long live Belarus!” and “Get away the fool!”.You may find the rest of the snapshots here. |
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