Civil society in Belarus is increasing its influence

On May 7^th, Minsk City Executive Committee refused to enter into a contract for the construction of a recreational centre in the centre of Minsk.

Protests against the compact construction become an important factor in the civil society formation and consolidation in the capital. These developments had non-political nature.

The Minsk City Executive Committee’s non-approval of a construction project to be implemented in a green area in the city centre was a result of protests by about a thousand local residents who sent their appeals to the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Control Committee asking to abandon the project.

This movement’s mobilization potential is fairly large, given its non-political nature. As a rule, such protests are carried out as pickets and collective appeals to the authorities. In particular, one of these appeals – against the residential building construction on the playground in Tsnianskaya Street – was signed by circa three housand people.

Citizens’ protests and the Minsk City Executive Committee’s decision to waive the construction project do not necessarily have a cause-effect relationship. But clearly, Minsk residents’ civil activity is increasing. In particular, in early April, a number of community initiatives, advocating against sporadic commercial development in vaious Minsk districts signed a memorandum of cooperation.

Organizational core of this residents’ movement is non-registered public association “Evroperspektiva”, which was denied registration by the Justice Ministry two times. The association is led by Victor Yanchurevich, a candidate for Parliament’s Deputy in 2012.