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Opposition activists petition government to exempt students nationwide from paying fare

Opposition activists delivered a petition to the Council of Ministers on Thursday morning to demand exemption from public transport fares for full-time students across Belarus and not only in Minsk.

Students of higher, technical and vocational schools in the capital city have enjoyed the privilege since mid-September. The exemption was introduced nationwide ahead of last December`s presidential election and scrapped soon afterward.

At about 11 a.m., some 10 activists of the "Tell the Truth!" campaign, mostly students, got on a bus near the HUM department store and purchased tickets from the ticket collector.

"Solidarity implies that you can abandon your privileges and rights to say that we are all equal and one should not divide us into groups and bribe us,” Andrey Dzmitryyew, a coordinator of the "Tell the Truth!" campaign, told BelaPAN. "We consider it unfair that Minsk students may travel free of charge while students in provinces do not have the opportunity. The authorities attempt to divide students into good ones in Minsk who should be bribed somehow and the rest in Belarus. We demand that all students or none should be exempt from fares."

A young woman, who introduced herself as Katsyaryna, said, “The unequal treatment of students studying in the capital city and provinces should be eliminated in our country. The 200-rubel difference between the ticket prices in Minsk and provinces is not crucial. Paying a little bit less is still hard for many.”

The group got off in Independence Square, walked to the House of Government and dropped their petition along with punched tickets into a box for applications to the Council of Ministers.

A copy of the petition was also delivered to the education ministry. An aide to the education minister promised that the petition would be passed to the minister himself.

Mr. Dzmitryyew said that the campaign for making public transport services free for students would soon begin throughout Belarus and last two or three months. "More than 600 signatures have already been collected in Mahilyow to a petition demanding this privilege," he said. "The city authorities have already replied that they do not have money for that."