The police behaved with maximum correctness towards the participants of the unauthorized rally on December 19 - A. Kuleshov

January 26, Minsk / Vladimir Matveev - BELTA /. The police behaved as correctly as possible towards the participants of the unauthorized rally on December 19. This was announced today to journalists by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus Anatoly Kuleshov, BELTA correspondent reports. "Everything was done so that law enforcement agencies would not be accused of interfering with the free expression of citizens' will, violating rights, freedoms, and democracy in the country," Anatoly Kuleshov said. In particular, he noted, the police did not react even when a call was made to go from October Square towards the head of state's residence. "Then there was a second call - to seize the building of the Central Election Commission and the House of Government," the minister added. Anatoly Kuleshov noted that in Western countries, such a rally would not have taken place at all. "You know what kind of order they have there. Nothing like that can ever be held there. Take Germany, for example - there are clearly defined places where such events can be held. Are you going to say that near the Bundestag or at the president's residence, such an event can be held? No!" said the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, addressing journalists. Nevertheless, the Belarusian police tried to behave as correctly as possible towards the participants of the rally, ignoring, among other things, the proximity to the President's residence. "There was only one goal - to behave as correctly as possible, showing restraint, not to give those who were at the unauthorized rally an opportunity to provoke the police," Anatoly Kuleshov emphasized. "Seeing the aggressiveness of the crowd, we did not take any active measures for only one reason: not to provoke the crowd into active confrontation with law enforcement forces." According to Anatoly Kuleshov, law enforcement officers also tried not to hinder journalists who could film everything that was happening. This fact is confirmed, among other things, by the large amount of video and photo materials in various media about the events of the evening of December 19. But when events began to take a threatening turn, the police were forced to react to restore order. "Active measures were taken to protect the House of Government, as open calls were made to seize the House of Government: 'Find bricks, stones, we will beat the police, all those who oppose us'," the minister said. "We could not allow this flame, ignited by the presidential candidates, the so-called revolutionaries, to disrupt order and stability in Belarus." "Could we have acted differently when for many months there was an active call from presidential candidates and not only to gather on October Square. At the same time, no one even bothered to submit an application to the relevant executive authorities for the right to hold such an event. That is, people initially consciously went to violate the law," the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is convinced. He reiterated that in other countries considered democratic, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons are used against participants of such rallies. "Today, representatives of various states say that law enforcement agencies acted adequately, proportionally to the negative trends that were developing on Independence Square. There was no use of any excessive force," Anatoly Kuleshov added. -0-