Фото: "Городокский вестник"
Sixty-eight foreign nationals were detained at the Rainbow Family gathering near Rasony — one Israeli citizen and 67 Russian citizens, the district newspaper Haradotski Vestnik reported.
According to the publication, a total of 277 people, including 26 minors, were staying at the forest camp. More than 100 police officers, including 89 riot police officers, took part in the operation. All detainees were taken to the district cultural centre, while children and their parents were taken to the Start sports and recreation centre.
Around 70 administrative offence reports have already been drawn up against participants under articles covering violations of the rules governing the organization of mass events (Article 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offences) and the distribution of “extremist materials” (Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
State propaganda outlets also claimed that participants committed “a series of other serious violations,” including pitching tents and parking vehicles on the shore of Lake Belaye without authorization in a protected natural area, as well as lighting campfires during a period of heightened fire risk.
The publication claims that the gathering was organized by the administrators of the relevant Telegram chat.
One of them is 52-year-old Minsk resident Aliaksandr Zhorau, who was previously detained on an administrative charge for participating in the 2020 protests. The report also claims he is listed in law enforcement databases as a “person involved in financing protest activity.”
The second administrator is 20-year-old Alisa Kukhta from Hrodna, who works at a school.
As previously reported, authorities carried out a mass detention of participants in the annual Rainbow Family gathering in the Rasony District of the Vitsyebsk Region.
The Interior Ministry said the inspection was conducted after receiving a report about a noisy event involving a large number of people on a lakeshore. According to the ministry, officers found a tent camp at the site, with foreign nationals and minors among those present. The ministry reported the detention of the event’s organizers — a 23-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man from Minsk.