Duke Algerd monument guarded by police in Viciebsk
A police detail is put on on a 24-hour duty to guard the monument to Duke Algerd of Lithuania to be unveiled in Viciebsk on June 27.
Polce officers can be seen in pairs, wearing uniforms, reports Radio Svaboda. To those interested, they narrate a story about the hard fate of Duke Algerd Monument: it was to be unveiled as far back as four years ago. They explain the need for a protective detail as follows: "Perhaps, it will not be stolen but someone can vadnalize it with obscene graffiti." The police officers say that "some people on the internet object to the monument, because Algerd, they think, had a bloody rule in Belarus."
The order is to guard the monument around the clock, because no CCTV cameras are mounted nearby. The police guards change every 8 hours to watch a nearby lawn as well.
Only one site required such protection in Viciebsk before - a Christmas tree in the central square after a local opposition activist had hoisted a white-red-white flag on top of it several years ago.
Photo: svaboda.org
