Belarusian policemen tear down Polish flags

• 1.06.2012, 15:03

Police acted rudely to disrupt a picket of the Union of Poles.

Detained journalist Andrzej Poczobut says policemen treated people rudely at the picket in Hrodna and even tore down a Polish state flag.

The journalist was called to the corrections office ahead of the picket organized by Polish activists in Hrodna. Andrzej Poczobut says there was a long conversation about his passport data, Euroradio reports.

“I then was taken to the Leninski district police chief. He studied my case, my file, the court decision... After that, he issued an official warning to me against violation of the Belarusian legislation. I was not told why the warning was given. They said I was convicted over this article, so they had grounds to suppose I would violate the Belarusian legislation again, so an official warning was issued. The Ministry of Internal Affairs sometimes does so,” Poczobut said.

We remind Poczobut was convicted for “insulting honour and dignity” of Lukashenka. He already has one warning for violation of probation. The journalist think the latest warning cannot be added to a previous one, because it was a preventive measure.

Poczobut thinks journalists were detained because the city authorities did not the picket and its brutal disruption to be covered by media. The journalist notes policemen behaved rudely and even tore down a Polish state flag.

Activists of the Polish ethnic group protested against Russification of the only Polish-language school in Hrodna. A total of 18 people were detained today in Hrodna.