Anti-nuclear action in Minsk on April 25, 2011

An international action of some 40 activists from Belarus, Germany and Poland took place in Minsk the day before Chernobyl Day 2011. In the most seriously by the Chernobyl disaster affected country, this action was supposed to remind of the deadly threats of nuclear power and to show objection against the Belarussian's government's plans to build a nuclear power plant in Astraviec.

Due to the Belarussian's state repression against concerned citizens most political actions are illegal in this country. For this reason the action neeeded to be designed to be short and effective. To avoid contact to police, it was just a 5-10 minute event - showing anti-nuclear banners on populated squares and distributing flyers. The first action worked out well at a shopping mall and the people could disappear without problems after there session. When they repeated the action at another highly frequented place, at the Pushkin Square, within five minutes special police forces jumped into them and arrested 12 activists.

A red van and a second civil car had stopped next the street, releasing men in black suits jumping out to the activists. They teared the ones with the banners down to the ground and pushed them into there cars. Others, who could escape, were hunted by them for several hundreds of meters. Like a kidnapping action. Six German activists, five Belarussians and a Polish activist were arrested by this police unit (probably special riot police unit).

They didn't receive food during the first day of there arrest, and later they were only provided with a little amount of food after the German embassy had put pressure on the Belraussian authorities. They didn't have blankets in jail, although it was cold, and the water they received was bad. "Totally normal", a Belarussian activist commented, but in conflict with Belarussias commitments to several international treaties.

After one day, a court judged everyone guilty to the following "charges": showing banners, screaming in public, disturbing pedestrians. Additionally to one (the Belarussians) or two days (the foreign activists) in jail, everyone was punished with a fine between 550,000 and 700,000 BYR each (120-160 EUR). The foreigners are not allowed to enter Belarus for at least 3 years.

This action, and particularly the reaction of Belarussian authorities, brought much international media attention, especially from Germany, to the case and to Belarus' pro-atomic policy.

Media coverage

• independent radios in Germany: Verhaftungen bei Anti-Atom-Aktion in Belarus am 25.4.2011 (without presentation) German
• Atom-Protest Belarus - photos and solidarity action in Berlin (D) German
• Deutsche Atomkraftgegner in Minsk festgenommen German
• Anti-Atom Verhaftungen in Minsk/Weissrussland German
• «Чернобыль ничему не научил белорусские власти» Russian
• Акция «Антиатомного сопротивления» закончилась задержаниями! - action report on April 25 on indymedia Belarus Russian
• В Санкт-Петербурге прошел пикет против репрессий в Беларуси - solidarity action in St. Petersburg (RUS) Russian