Chernobyl Way ( be, Чарнобыльскі шлях, russian: Чернобыльский шлях, Чернобыльский путь) is an annual rally held on April 26 by the opposition in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

as a remembrance of the

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...

. It was first held in 1989 with demands of urgent efforts in eliminating the consequences of the catastrophe. That year, about 30,000 participants marched from the Minsk Watch Plant through the downtown to the Independence Square and held a rally there. In 1996, the largest Chernobyl Way took place in Minsk marking the 10th anniversary of the

. It was the first Chernobyl Way during

Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luka ...

's presidency. About 50,000 people gathered near the Academy of Sciences and marched on Independence Avenue, the main street of Minsk. There were many clashes with the police, the demonstrators were dispersed by OMON, and many political activists protesting against Lukashenko’s regime were detained. Among those detained were journalists and opposition leaders, namely, Yury Khadyka,

Lyavon Barshchewski Lyavon Barshchewski ( be, Лявон Баршчэўскі) (born March 4, 1958) is a Belarusian philologist and opposition politician. Born on March 4, 1958 in Polotsk, Barshchewski graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University in 1980. He was ...

, Viachaslau Siuchyk,

Vincuk Viačorka Valiancin; russian: Винцук, translit=Vintsuk) is a diminutive form of Valancin. Ryhoravič Viačorka ( be, Валянцін Рыгоравіч Вячорка, , russian: Валентин Григорьевич Вечёрко, translit=V ...

. After this rally opposition leader Zianon Pazniak left the country. Staff of the

Maksim Bahdanovič Literary Museum Maksim Bahdanovič Literary Museum is a museum in Minsk, Belarus. It is dedicated to the writer Maksim Bahdanovič Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich ( be, Максім Адамавіч Багдановіч, ; russian: Максим Адамович ...

started helping the arrested and their families, and this is how the Viasna Human Rights Center was created.

References

Politics of Belarus

Way Way may refer to: Paths * a road, route, path or pathway, including long-distance paths. * a straight rail or track on a machine tool, (such as that on the bed of a lathe) on which part of the machine slides * Ways, large slipway in shipbuildin ...

Recurring events established in 1989 1989 protests 1997 protests {{Belarus-stub