Videofact: Protesters Sing Oginski’s Polonaise In Brest

Hundreds of people came to the square.

In the afternoon of January 13, Brest activist Vital Kazak once again held a festive program in the costume of Father Frost at Lenin Square in Brest. A week ago, Kazak asked people to get ready to sing a cappella vocal version of Oginski’s Polonaise on the eve of the old New Year. A lot of people responded to his request, the Brest Newspaper reports.

Along with the festive program, traditional feeding of pigeons in protest against the battery factory construction was held at the square. As human rights activist Uladzimir Vialichkin told reporters, about 200 people came to the square.

Some of them gathered near Father Frost, others discussed the construction of the plant in a separate group. In particular, they spoke about another state environmental impact assessment of the plant project – according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, on December 21, the revised draft was submitted for examination again. The initiative group wanted to familiarize themselves with the corrected documentation, however, according to activist Dziamjan Lepiasevich, the iPower company replied that it would be provided after receiving a positive opinion from the state environmental audit.

According to Lepesevich, the initiative group has not yet disclosed all the violations found in the construction project.

Starting from March 4 of last year, every Sunday, opponents of the plant have been coming to Lenin Square to feed the pigeons and thereby expressing their silent protest against the construction of a battery factory in the FEZ Brest. Only once they were allowed to gather and protest – the Brest Women Against Lead rally was held in the park of soldiers-internationalists on April 29 and about 2,000 people gathered there. Subsequently, numerous requests for holding rallies and pickets against the plant were dismissed.

The initiative group of Brest residents and residents of the district, as well as its supporters constantly talk about numerous violations at different stages of implementing the project. Representatives of the plant, environmental organizations and officials insist that the fears are groundless and there are no violations.

The launch of the battery factory’s complete production cycle was originally scheduled for August 2018, then at the end of the year. According to the latest data, the first batch of batteries will be released at the beginning of the new year. According to official information, the capacity of the enterprise at the initial stage will be 1 million batteries per year, and will subsequently be doubled. However, the initiative group states that the equipment, which has been brought to the enterprise, will allow producing up to 6 million batteries per year.