BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
23/09/2009
Belarus: Minsk anarchists stage protest against Belarusian-Russian military exercises
Contributed by: WorkerFreedom
Anti-War ActivismA group of about 25 young people who called themselves anarchists staged a brief protest in Minsk on Saturday afternoon against a large-scale Belarusian-Russian military exercise currently held in Belarus. At about 5 p.m., the protesters marched on the roadway of Kamunistychanya Street towards Independence Avenue, Minsk's main thoroughfare, displaying black-and-red flags and a banner saying, "The People are Starving; the Military are Playing" and chanting slogans, "Army is Slavery!" and the like.
During the protest, which lasted between five and seven minutes, demonstrators spray-painted "Belarus isn't Military Ground!" on walls and threw a smoke pot over a fence onto the grounds of the General Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces and hung their banner on the fence.
After that, the demonstrators quickly dispersed.
On September 9, police cracked down on a peaceful protest against Russian troops' presence in Belarus, which was staged by a few dozen opposition activists at the center of Minsk. More than 20 protesters were arrested and most of them were sentenced to fines.
The Zapad 2009 (West 2009) military exercise, held in Belarus between September 18 and 29, reportedly involves 12,500 troops, with 6,000 of them being from Russia
Source:
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090923034427112
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