Zhabinka City Day Celebration Ends In Clashes With Special Forces, Police

There were mass detentions of people at the festival.

According to nn.by, the celebration of the City Day in Zhabinka on July 21 ended in mass detentions. At least one person has not been released from the detention facility so far.

That evening, there was a concert of the famous band Tiani Tolkai in the city square, and at 23:00 fireworks were planned.

It is known that the celebration lasted long after midnight.

After about one o'clock in the morning, eyewitnesses noticed that police officers detained and led one of the guys into the car. It is not exactly known what happened. According to one of the versions, this young man exceeded speed and parked the car in the yard. When he approached the festival site, he was detained immediately.

Zhabinka residents began to film this detention with their cell phone cameras. As a result, those who filmed the incident were also taken to the police department for the night.

On that day, not only the local police worked in Zhabinka, but also the Brest special police.

Artur R. was one of those who suffered from the law enforcement officers. "I cannot even imagine what happened there. They tied me up in five minutes, and then took me to the police department. I was held there until 7 a.m. They interrogated me, asked what happened. We just wanted to see who was detained there," the eyewitness tells.

According to Artur, there were seven or eight such people in the police department. "They held us in handcuffs, sprayed the gas cartridge right in the eyes. My finger was numb, I felt bad in the police," says Artur.

Natallia Kryvaruchka told reporters that her son Pavel was still held in custody in Brest. The lawyers were told that Pavel would be released tomorrow after 2 p.m.

"The police were detaining the guy - and my son began to film it. Special police tore the phone out of his hands and put an armlock on him. The guys were beaten in the bus, and at the police station. For nothing, just because those people , they saw the detention," says Natallia Kryvaruchka.

Now Pavel can be subjected to liability under Article 363 of the Criminal Code "Resistance to an officer of the internal affairs agencies".

“They say Pavel hit a riot policeman and damaged the police mini-van. He did neither of this! I have videos of that incident, I collected a lot of them from the people, " says the mother of the detainee.

"There is evidence of beating, I was in the reception room of the police department at the time," says Natallia Kryvaruchka.

Aliaksandr P. also says that a criminal case can be brought against him:

"They are telling me that I first attacked the riot policeman and strangled him, and then strangled some other police officers, but I didn“t do it! My weight is 70 kilograms, and I was quite drunk. That riot policeman is three times bigger than me. I've never fought in my life!

The witness says that he saw me from afar, but did not see my face. They contradict themselves. I just passed by when they took the detainee. I was seized from behind, and they dragged me someplace. Of course, I tried to break free, but they hit me and knocked me to the ground," the guy says.

"In the police department, we stood facing the wall in the corridor all the time. I asked for a hone call, but they told me it was not allowed. We were all handcuffed. They did not use force. Only, I turned around once, and immediately they pressed my head against the wall, to show me how to stand properly. This was done by someone from the riot police. They did not tell me my status in the case. Absolutely nothing is clear, " says Aliaksandr.

The officers of the Zhabinka district police department refused to give any comment on the case. "Call Brest, we will not say anything," they said.

All the attempts to contact the press-center of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Brest regional executive committee have been unsuccessful so far. The session of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the regional executive committee with the participation of Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich is taking place there in Brest.