On February 25, a large demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine was held in Paris with the participation of all French trade unions. It recalled the situation in Belarus, as well as the persecution of the Belarusian trade unions.
Trade union activists distributed leaflets among the protesters, which told about the repression against the Belarusian trade unions. They voiced their position on the situation in Belarus to the participants of the demonstration of many thousands of people, as well as told about the trials against trade union leaders:
- The Belarusian authorities continue to unleash an intransigent and deafening repression against the independent trade union movement and its leaders who are accused of organizing strikes and demonstrations during the mass protest movement in the summer of 2020. The leaders of the BKDP are paying the price for a free trade union movement and struggle! The CGT demands that the unjust charges are dropped and the immediate release from detention is ruled out!
They ended their speech with a call for solidarity with the resisting Ukraine and a wish for freedom for Belarus.
It is worth noting that on January 25, 2022 French trade unions appealed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France to draw the attention of the French government to the situation in Belarus and the fate of the leadership of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions. (BKDP). The letter was signed by all presidents and/or general secretaries of French trade unions.
The CGT also drew attention to the Belarusian prisoners at a meeting with representatives of French diplomacy and the French Labour Ministry last week. At the meeting, trade union representatives asked the French ambassador to Belarus to attend the appeal hearing in the case of the BKDP leaders, which will be held in Minsk on March 24.