On 24 March this year a Belarusian girl, Viktoria Biran, wanted to protest against an article that had appeared a few days before on the website of the interior ministry of her country, where the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual and asexual) community was described as “false,” as was their fight for civil rights and the “LGBTI community day” they had proclaimed. The ministry was acting in retaliation against the UK embassy, whose “fault” had been to have displayed a rainbow flag as an act of solidarity towards discriminated Belarusian sexual minorities.
Viktoria then decided to protest by writing “YOU are false” on an A4 paper sheet by hand, then went before the buildings of the interior ministry, of the committee for state security (i.e. the secret service) and the main government building and was photographed while holding the sheet.
A solitary “mass protest”
The Belarusian regime condemned Viktoria to pay a fine equivalent to slightly less than 160 Euros for violating the procedures provided by the law for the organization of “mass events,” thus covering itself with ridicule. The “mass” was in fact nobody else but Viktoria and another person who took the pictures.
“This sentence is simply absurd,” said Marie Struthers, director of Amnesty International for eastern Europe and central Asia. “Viktoria’s protest lasted not more than three seconds and she was alone, apart from the person who took a picture of her. It is inconceivable that this should seriously be considered as a ‘mass protest’.”
Alessandro Garzi
translation by Alex
©2018 Il Grande Colibrì
photo: Amnesty International
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