On December 19 in the evening, a protest rally was held in front of the Belarusian Embassy in London. It was dedicated to the anniversary of the bloody events in Minsk.

Dozens of citizens of the Great Britain, as well as Belarusians, who are concerned about the events in Belarus, have taken part in it.

The main topic of the speeches those present were political prisoners, who are kept in Belarusian prisons now. Among the speakers at the meeting there were family members of the political prisoners – Alla Sannikova, Uladzimir Khalip, Natallya Kalyada; representatives of public associations: Index on Censorship, the English-Belarusian Society, the trade union of British actors Equity.

A well-known British actor Sam West, who had taken part in the rallies of solidarity with Belarus many times, could not attend the rally because he had a performance, but he asked his colleagues to read his address:

“A statement for the peaceful demonstration near the Belarusian Embassy, December 19, 2011

A year has passed since the presidential election in Belarus. A year ago we met on the same place in protest against the cruel crackdown by Lukashenka on those who protested against the election results – the dispersal of demonstrators by truncheons, against arrests and detentions of hundreds of people. The doors of the dissenters’ houses were broken open, injured protesters were dragged away from hospital beds, some people tried to escape persecution. Seven out of nine oppositional presidential candidates were arrested. Andrei Sannikov and Mikola Statkevich are still behind the bars.

Last year I personally heard Andrei Sannikov. He finished his speech by a simple call: “Solidarity with the Belarusian nation prevents political assassinations, prevents unexplainable “disappearances”. Now a person who said these words is facing unexplainable disappearance himself. Sannikov’s family had not been allowed to see him or speak to him for the last months, and his lawyer had not seen him since November 3.

We must continue crying; we must do everything for our voices to be heard. We still have a right to protest in this country, and we should use it. These people have not been forgotten. They would not be forgotten. The silence of some part of the British establishment concerning the cruelty in Belarus is simply shameful. Let us, writers and actors, cultural community and people outside the field of culture, remind our statesmen and politicians about their duty to take action to put an end to the despotic excessive acts of this bankrupt regime.”