841 Signatures Collected for White-Red-White Flag at Grunwald Field

A petition requesting the installation of a flagpole with a white-red-white flag at Grunwald Field has collected 823 signatures in a week. Among the well-known signatories are Ales Lahviniec, Jury Hubarevich, Anatol Liabedzka, Vital Rymasheuski, Ihar Barysau.

Yury Mieliaškievič, acting chairman of the BPF Party, who is listed as the initiator of the petition, told Svaboda that the idea for the campaign belonged to Ales Lahviniec, who was the first to draw attention to the absence of a white-red-white flag at Grunwald Field on a permanent basis.

"The museum space of Grunwald Field is developing. Initially, the flags of Poland, then Lithuania, were present there. At some point, the flag of Ukraine was added. To complete the contour of the state entities that directly participated in the victory, of course, the Belarusian flag should be there," comments the interlocutor.

According to Mieliaškievič, on the first day, the collection of signatures went well because people shared it on social media. However, on the second day, Facebook banned the distribution of this petition, and the collection slowed down.

"I received an informational message that I had somehow violated Facebook's policy – something related to spam or collecting private information. And Facebook removed the links shared on social networks. Some people even suffered, their Facebook functionality was partially restricted," says Yury.

The initiators of the petition would like to collect 10-12 thousand signatures by July 15, when the 616th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald will be celebrated.

"Twelve thousand is a symbolic number, as it corresponds to the number of warriors who, from the point of view of current science, participated in the glorious battle from the territory of Belarus," explains Mieliaškievič.

Павялічыць

Yury Mieliaškievič

Yury says that the collection of signatures has now slowed down. Therefore, he wants to conduct a public campaign for the national flag at Grunwald Field with the help of political and public organizations and figures. He also counts on expanding the petition on Telegram, other accessible social channels, and in the media.

"We turned to our Polish partners, including thanks to Anatol Liabedzka, who raised this issue in Brussels," the interlocutor reported.

The decision regarding a mast with a white-red-white flag at the site of the event must be made by the management of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald.

"I think that the administration of the relevant gmina, poviat, and even voivodeship could be involved here," Yury adds.

Direct negotiations with the museum are planned to begin when at least 1-2 thousand signatures are collected.

"I hope for understanding. We have a fairly long history of relations with Polish cultural initiatives and institutions. I am calm about these negotiations and look forward positively," says Mieliaškievič.

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