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Dozens of youths arriving at the building of the National Library of Belarus on Thursday evening with pillows were arrested by police.

A youth organization called Historyka (Historical Studies) intended to stage a mass pillow fight there to mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald that took place on July 15, 1410, with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Litva (Lithuania) beating the knights of the Teutonic Order.

The city authorities banned the event. Minsk authorities stated that «since the statement "Historica" about holding of mass action doesn't correspond to the requirements of part 5, art. 5 of the law «About mass actions », the Minsk City Executive Committee disallows the action holding in the platform near the building of National Library».

Around 70 people were apprehended, but a brief pillow fight was still staged, near the subway station.

One of the organizers Andrey Kim, prominent civil activist and YHRM Correspondent spent the whole night at the police station. On the 16th of July he was fined by the Pervomayskiy district court for organizing an unsanctioned action.

The first mass pillow fight was staged in Minsk on July 15, 2009 on the occasion of the 599th anniversary of the Grunwald battle in defiance of the authorities’ ban. Another pillow fight took place in September to celebrate the anniversary of the 1514 Orsha Battle; the city government sanctioned the event in which around 400 young people took part.

Information www.naviny.by, www.telegraf.by