Workers on hunger strike detained by police in Babruisk

BelaPAN learnt it from Mikhail Kavalkou, the chairman of the branch of the Belarusian Free Trade Union at the plant of tractor parts and units in Babruisk.

According to him, the workers were detained on their way to the plant. “The police took our car and documents. They take us to a police station,” he said on the phone.

Police officers didn't give reasons for the detention. Kavalkou says the policemen found fault with his driver's licence. “They said it wasn't an ID. They said they needed my passport. The others have their passports, but the police officers seized them for no reasons,” he noted.

Members of the Free Trade Union Mikalai Zhybul, Aleh Shauchenka, Aliaksandr Varankin and Aliaksandr Hramyka, who were fired from the plant, announced a hunger strike in the headquarters of the Babruisk city administration on November 5. They demand their constitutional right to labour. They had to leave the building two times on demand of police officers and officials. Four protesters continued the hunger strike near the plant gates on November 6. They took a break for the weekend and resumed the open-ended hunger strike on November 10.