Vyatrovich approves: The banned “Immortal Regiment” in Vitebsk will stand at the rally
The public organization "Russian House", which was denied an application by the authorities of the Belarusian Vitebsk to hold the "Immortal Regiment" action, called on its supporters to take part in the citywide rally "Belarus Remembers".
This is stated in the official statement of the “Russia House”, published on the “Together with Russia” website.
“We regret that this year the Immortal Regiment cannot be held in the format in which it is held all over the world and we hope that next year this issue will be resolved at the state level. At the same time, we invite all our supporters, residents and guests of Vitebsk, as well as all Belarusians in their places of residence to take an active part in the thousands-strong “Belarus Remembers” campaign and go to rallies with portraits of their relatives who defended our Motherland during the war with the inscription “Immortal regiment", with St. George or red-green ribbons, with children dressed in soldier uniforms. We are against any confrontation on Victory Day!” the statement says.
Vitebsk social activist Elvira Mirsalimova believes that the format of the rally is not suitable for the Immortal Regiment.
“A rally - people stand and are spectators, a procession - people walk, participate, feel involved. The Immortal Regiment is still a procession. But since this is the case, we will participate in the rally,” Mirsalimova wrote on her Facebook page.
Political scientist Alexander Shpakovsky repeats the thesis of the President of Belarus that the country has its own patriotic action and it is not appropriate to copy Russian analogues.
“Nobody prohibited anything. We have Victory Day - May 9 - perhaps one of the main public holidays. On this day, a nationwide campaign “Belarus Remembers” is held. All “Immortal Regiments” were invited to join this action in their own format. Fortunately, for the most part, the organizers of the “Regiment” in different cities of Belarus are reasonable people and did not stir up hysteria. Although there are individuals who tried to make political PR for themselves based on the memory of the war,” Shpakovsky wrote on Facebook.
Representatives of the pro-Western Belarusian opposition are happy about the refusal to hold the “Immortal Regiment”.
“The “Immortal Regiment” action is undesirable for the Belarusian government and the Belarusian nation from the point of view of the Belarusian perception of history. It has turned into officialdom and a method of propaganda. It must show Russia's political influence and recognition of its role in the victory over fascism. This is a marker of the presence of Russian interests and Russian people in other territories,” political scientist Igor Tyshkevich said on his YouTube channel.
He also noted that although this year the Minsk authorities seem to have agreed on the holding of the “Immortal Regiment”, in fact the participants of the action will be able to walk only 231 meters in a column. Tyshkevich joyfully recalls that the public association “Immortal Regiment” was refused registration both at the republican level and at the local level.
The Belarusian experience is interpreted as an example for Ukraine by the well-known Russophobe, head of the Institute of National Memory, Vladimir Vyatrovich.
“There is a war in Ukraine, but the Immortal Regiment is banned only in Belarus and Kazakhstan,” Vryatovich wrote on his Facebook.
English version :: Read in English : Vyatrovich approves: The banned "Immortal Regiment" in Vitebsk will stand at the rally.