Belarusian wheelchair users were brutally restrained because of the Russian flag
New details of the incident with the appearance of the Russian flag near the Belarusian delegation at the opening of the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro were reported by the press secretary of the Belarusian president Natalya Eismont.
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“Even journalists don’t know all the facts. According to my information, the ceremony itself, the procedure for bringing out the Russian flag by our delegation should have looked completely different: our main flag bearer in the delegation was followed by four more wheelchair users, and it was they who had two large flags when leaving the stadium - Belarusian and Russian. It was they who were supposed to carry these flags side by side at the head of the Belarusian delegation. But international sports functionaries, without thinking twice, tied up our Olympic wheelchair athletes, took away these flags from them and did not allow people to quietly, calmly and peacefully express their opinion,” BELTA quotes Eismont.
The press secretary noted that the team foresaw this development of events, so sports functionary Andrei Fomochkin secretly brought a spare flag into the stadium from the organizers. For this, he and another member of the Belarusian delegation were deprived of accreditation at the Paralympics.
“Once again the International Paralympic Committee has shown its so-called democracy. The President of Belarus is outraged by this fact. The fact that a person’s mouth has been closed and is now not allowed to fulfill his direct duties,” said the press secretary of the head of state.
Belarusian wheelchair users were violently restrained because of the Russian flag.