BELAZ PLANT JOINED THE PROTESTS IN BELARUS

The employees of BelAZ (Belarusian Autoworks Production Association), located in the Belarusian Zhodino, decided to support the protests against the results of the presidential election announced by the CEC. The workers gathered at the entrance checkpoint, expressing their dissatisfaction with the actions of the riot police, who used the buses of the plant to disperse the protesters.

The management of the enterprise stated that the plant was working as usual, and called the action itself "a meeting with the workes." The representatives of the BelAZ administration and the shops foremen did not abandon their attempts to continue communication with the workers and listen to their demands. At the same time, the workers outside the factory headquarters continued to chant slogans calling for a national strike.

Those who gathered in the street demanded to remove the riot police from the streets of the city, as well as to hold real democratic elections in the country.

The chairman of the local city executive committee Dmitry Zabolotsky received such demands from the employees of the plant. The head of the city administration had to explain what were the “needs of the city”, for which two factory buses were allocated. At the same time, in response to the proposal to move the meeting to the local House of Culture, Zabolotsky received the word "stadium" as an answer, which the assembled crowd of people immediately began to chant.

After the end of the meeting with the mayor, the townspeople standing at the exit from the territory of the plant surrounded him, expressing their dissatisfaction with what was happening on the streets of the city. The participants of the meeting complained that they did not have the opportunity to calmly walk on the streets of the city in the evening, without fear of being seized or beaten by the riot police officers who had arrived in the city from outside.

Zabolotsky had to convince people that for each case of beating the citizens, the proceedings will be held, and the riot police will leave the city as soon as the threat of seizure of administrative buildings is over.

The protest actions in the country began on August 9, immediately after the announcement of preliminary voting data, according to which most of the votes were cast for the country's president, who has been the head of state for 26 years. It is curious that not only employees of the world's largest manufacturer of mining dump trucks came out to support the protesters (the share of BelAZ in the world market is 30%). A similar action in the format of a peaceful strike was launched by the collective of the Belarusian State Philharmonic Society.

Philharmonic artists and members of the Storozhki ensemble came out in front of the building, performing an impromptu concert and holding posters with the words “My vote was stolen” in their hands. During the pandemic, the artists cannot give concerts, although they continue to hold rehearsals. To call such an action a "strike" in such conditions, as it was noted by the acting director general of the Philharmonic, would be rash.