OMON
TROOPS BLOCKADED
PARISHIONERS AND PROTESTERS IN CHURCH IN MINSK
While
dispersing a
protest demonstration against falsification of the presidential
election in
Belarus in the evening of 26 August, OMON troops blockaded some
of the
demonstrators inside the Catholic church of saints Simon and
Helena, also known
as the Red Church, in the very center of Minsk. Parishioners who
were in the
church also were not able to leave it. The doors of the church
were opened only
40 minutes later.
An
official
representative of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus,
Yury Sanko,
expressed a protest against the actions of the police and
demanded that an
investigation of what happened be conducted and that the guilty
be brought to
justice, Tut.by writes. The creation of hindrance for free entry
and exit of people
to and from the church, he emphasized, is a gross violation of
the rights of
believers and of freedom of religious confession.
Subsequently,
the
head of the Catholic Church of Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz,
issued an official protest. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 August 2020)
CATHOLIC
BISHOPS
CONDEMN ACTIONS OF SECURITY FORCES OF BELORUSSIA ON TERRITORY OF
RED CHURCH
Interfax-Religiia,
27
August 2020
Bishop
Yury
Kosobutsky expressed a protest in connection with the blockading
by security
forces of access to the Red Church of Minsk, the website of the
Roman Catholic
Church in Belorussia reported.
"The
vicar
general of the Minsk and Mogilev diocese, Bishop Yury
Kosobutsky, declared a
decisive protest against the actions of personnel of the
security forces, which
in the evening of 26 August blockaded the entrance to the church
of saints
Simeon and Helena in Minsk (Red Church)," the report says.
The
hierarch reminded
state agencies and leaders of the security forces that such
actions are
impermissible and illegal.
"The
church is
God's sacred place, which may be visited without hindrance by
all who
desire," Kosobutsky noted.
Blockading
the
entrance and exit contradicts the rights of citizens, guaranteed
by the
constitution of Belorussia, to freedom of religious expression
and it hurts
believers' feelings and transgresses the laws of man and God,
the
representative of the Catholic Church is sure.
The
bishop demanded
that nobody be prevented from entering and leaving the sacred
place.
Kosobutsky's
protest
was supported by Bishop Alexander Yashevsky. The hierarchs
expressed the hope
that such actions by security forces on the territory of the
sacred place will
not be repeated in the future.
Wednesday
evening,
representatives of the security forces dispersed participants in
a
demonstration by the opposition on Independence Square in Minsk.
Some of the
protesters found themselves blockaded inside the Red Church. A
few of the
participants in the demonstration were arrested. (tr. by PDS,
posted 27 August
2020)
WOMEN IN
WHITE DRESSES
MADE "CHAIN OF SOLIDARITY" AROUND RED CHURCH IN MINSK
Interfax-Religiia,
27
August 2020
About
100 women, most
of them in white dresses, assembled a "chain of solidarity"
around
the Red Church, near Government House on Independence Square in
the center of
Minsk, Belorussian Telegram channels report.
The
number of
participants in the action is increasing, despite the start of
rain.
As the
portal Tut.by
reports, the women made a chain (by taking the arm next to
them), while some of
them had their hands tied with white ribbons.
Meanwhile
the
district inspector walked past the chain of protesters and
reported that an
administrative case based on article 23.34 (violation of the
procedure for
organizing or conducting mass events) will be begun.
The
women refused to
identify themselves and said that they were merely taking a
walk.
Yesterday
evening
Belorussian security troops dispersed participants in protests
on Independence
Square and blockaded about 100 persons inside the Red Church,
setting up a
checkpoint at the entrance to the building. Several participants
in the
demonstration were arrested.
Actions
of the
security forces disturbed the leadership of the Catholic Church
in Belorussia.
The Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev and chairman of the
Conference of
Catholic Bishops of the country, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, called
the actions of
personnel of the security forces Wednesday evening on the
territory of the
church "inappropriate and illegal," and he demanded an
investigation.
(tr. by PDS, posted 27 August 2020)
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