Participants of Stop-Petrol action block traffic in centre of Minsk
Drivers protested against the increase of fuel prices. Similar actions were organized in Homel and Brest.
Live reports from Minsk action:
Artsyom Sharkou, organizer of Minsk action
Homel participants of “Stop Petrol” gathered not far from the filling station in Yafremava Street. A police bus arrived there almost instantly. Two policemen went out of the yard. One of them was police colonel Anatoli Anatoliyevich Vasilyeu who warned the drivers about responsibility for unauthorized actions.
The column headed for Soviet Street at 6.40 p.m., however, driving inspectors were waiting near the parking lot exit. They made the cars drive in opposite directions and the column managed to gather only in Soviet Street.
The drivers stopped between Victory and Rahachouskaya Streets and opened their hoods. The other drivers passing by were smiling and waving V signs.
Then the column headed further along Soviet Street and organized “a noise attack” with the help of vehicle horns opposite the building of the Regional Executive Committee. About forty cars took part in the action.
About a dozen cars gathered at the crossroads of Cosmonauts and Masherau Boulevards in Brest. Passers-by supported the action by standing in the pavement and policemen kept pushing cars towards the roadside.
Today’s all-Belarusian action “Stop petrol” has become the first large-scale action initiated by “For Auto”. One of its organizers, Artsyom Sharkou, has informed Euroradio that about a thousand Minsk drivers supported the action: “Drivers claimed that they were a strong force that could solve problems in the fuel market. The action was aimed at presenting information to the government and to the “Belneftehim” concern”.
