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Police checking up on Belarus Free Theater

Police officers dropped by once again during Belarus Free Theater's performance, Uladzimir Shcherban, a director of the Belarusian underground troupe, wrote on Facebook on Thursday evening.

"A play titled Rodnyya and Blizniya [Near and Dear] has just started," Mr. Shcherban said. "But guess who appeared before the start like in a New Year's utrennik [morning New Year's party for children]? Sure enough, our valiant police, not Father Frost. They wrote down the passport data of those present and then left. That's at least something to be grateful for, although they should have already memorized [the data]."

Since December, police officers have tried to disrupt several performances by Belarus Free Theater in Minsk, arriving midway through shows and writing down the names and passport data of the actors and spectators.

The theater's art director, Mikalay Khalezin, and Natallya Kalyada, his wife and the theater's manager, fled Belarus after the December 19, 2010 post-election protest in Minsk for fear of imprisonment and were subsequently granted asylum in Britain.

Belarus Free Theater regularly tours Europe and North America, using its shows to highlight human rights abuse and the lack of democracy in Belarus. //BelaPAN