Prague – The historical flag of Belarus has been flown by the town halls in several districts of Prague in support of the ongoing mass protest in Belarus against the Alexander Lukashenko regime in the wake of the controversial presidential elections.
Today, the historical flag with two white strips and a red one between them has been hoisted by the Prague 12 district town hall, while the halls in Prague 6, 7 and 10 did so in recent days.
The flag has also been flown at the Senate, the upper house of parliament dominated by the centre-right opposition.
“By hoisting the flag… we wanted to show solidarity with those demonstrating for freedom and democracy,” Prague 12 Mayor Jan Adamec (Pirates) said, referring to the Belarusian developments.
“We cannot tolerate any violence against demonstrators, let alone a brutal police crackdown.”
The historical flag is the flag the People’s Republic of Belarus used in 1918 before becoming part of the Soviet Union, and again after it re-gained independence in 1991.
It was replaced by the new, currently used flag in 1995, the year following Lukashenko’s first election as president.