Freedom Day (Belarus) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Freedom Day (; ) is an unofficial holiday in 
Freedom Day has been celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus by the Belarusian independence movement since the early 1920s. It is widely celebrated by the
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
celebrated on 25 March to commemorate the declaration of independence by the Belarusian Democratic Republic
The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; , ), also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The ...
by the Third Constituent Charter
The Third Constituent Charter of the Belarusian People's Republic, Constituent Charter () is a legal act adopted by the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic on 25 March 1918 in Minsk (in Malin's house), according to which the Belarusian Pe ...
on that date in 1918. It is also known as the 25-aha sakavika (, March 25) day.
Freedom Day has been celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus by the Belarusian independence movement since the early 1920s. It is widely celebrated by the Belarusian diaspora
The Belarusian diaspora () refers to emigrants from Belarus which includes their descendants.
According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the Republic of Bel ...
.
In the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, governors and US presidents, including Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
and Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
, have traditionally issued official greetings to the Belarusian American
Belarusian Americans, also known as White Russian Americans and White Ruthenian Americans, are Americans who are of total or partial Belarusians, Belarusian ancestry.
History
There is an assumption that the first Belarusian settlers in the ...
community on 25 March.
The Belarusian opposition
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko (allied with Vladimir Putin), whom ...
to the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...
celebrates Freedom Day annually. The protests in Belarus are regularly accompanied by mass detention and torture of the protesters. The government does not recognize Freedom Day claiming that the Belarusian Democratic Republic was created by the Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
, which occupied Belarus in 1918 and with Lukashenko describing it as a "dismal page in our history". However, since the 2018 event which marked the centenary of the BDR, the authorities have somewhat rolled back some the crackdowns and criticism - in 2018 authorities granted a permission to organize a ceremony and concert in Minsk with 11,000 attendants, and in 2019 events in Minsk and the regions took place without large-scale repression.
In 2020, Belarusian musician created a song commemorated to the day and named it 25aha sakavika.
Freedom Day 2021 was the last day of protest marches
A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...
against the alleged fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was announced by the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Central Election Commissi ...
. More than 200 people were arrested.
On May 16, 2024, the Investigative Committee of Belarus announced that criminal cases had been opened against participants of the 2024 emigrant celebrations under articles of the criminal code on the creation of an extremist group and participation in it and on discrediting the Republic of Belarus. The Investigative Committee announced that it has information about 104 persons who participated in the celebration of Freedom Day in various cities abroad, and also announced searches, seizures of property and proceedings in absentia
''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
against the suspects.
See also
*Public holidays in Belarus
National holidays in Belarus are classified into state holidays and other holidays and commemorative days, including religious holidays. Nine of them are non-working days.
Public holidays (non-working days)
Other holidays
State
Comme ...
* Freedom Day (disambiguation) Freedom Day may refer to any of the following days:
National and international
* National Religious Freedom Day on 16 January in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedo ...
in other countries
References