BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
04/02/2008
Minsk Residents Protest Against Authorities' Plan Of Eviction
The residents of several apartment buildings in central Minsk protested on February 2 against the authorities' plan for the redevelopment of Karl Marx Street that provides for their eviction to buildings on the outskirts of the city, Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. Minsk authorities intend to turn the street into a pedestrian zone with a hotel, casino, and shopping center, and therefore want five buildings containing at least 80 apartments to be cleared of residents. Residents were offered apartments of the same size, but the protesters claim that due to the difference in the price of apartments located downtown and on the outskirts, they will be least $100,000 worse-off. "Officials tell us that we will be given apartments of the same size, but they say nothing about compensation for our apartments' value," Belapan quoted protesting resident Dzmitry Marchenka as saying. Uladzimir Arlou, a prominent Belarusian writer who also faces eviction from the buildings, said that "no one is going to move out." "As for me, I am ready to fight to the bitter end," he added. AM
Source:
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/02/3-cee/cee-040208.asp
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