On January 27, the Bremen Trade Union House will host an event dedicated to Belarusian trade union activists who have taken refuge in Bremen.
The welcome event is organized by the German regional trade union association DGB Bremen-Elbe-Weser, which has played a significant role in welcoming and settling more than 10 Belarusians and their families.
Leaders and activists of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union were forced to leave Belarus because of the threat of persecution or arrest by representatives of the Lukashenko regime. Since April 2022 representatives of the KGB detained more than two dozen trade union activists united around the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP). Among them were deputy chairman of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) Alexander Mishuk and chairman of the primary organization of the BNP at Hrodna Azot - Andrei Khanevich. In addition to the representatives of the BNP, representatives of the Belarusian Free Trade Union (SPB), the Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM), the trade union REP and the leadership of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee were subjected to reprisals.
Therefore, the main theme of the event will be a reminder of the arrested trade union leaders, who are currently in prison. Their number currently stands at 31.
Regional leader Ernesto Harder will open the event, and Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte will make a welcoming speech. Maksim Pazniakou, acting chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions and the Belarusian Independent Trade Union, is also scheduled to speak. Lizaveta Merliak, chair of the Salidarnast Association, will also speak. Ales Denisau of the Belarusian band "Dzieciuki" has been invited as a guest, so a small musical performance is planned for the participants of the event.
We invite all those interested in the event, as well as everyone who cares about the fate of political prisoners and the future of the Belarusian trade union movement. The event will take place at the DGB House of Trade Unions, Bahnhofsplatz 22-28, 28195 Bremen.