Belarus does not intend to cancel Victory Day parade over coronavirus

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. photo: tass.ru

On May 3, 2020, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said during a meeting that he had no intention to cancel the Victory Day parade due to the coronavirus, reports “BELTA”.

"I must say that we can't cancel the parade. We just can't. I've been thinking about this for a long time. Of course, it's an emotional, deeply ideological thing. We must remember that those people (war veterans – Ed.) were dying, maybe, from viruses, other diseases. But they did not feel it sometimes and did not think about it. And they were dying for us, no matter how pathetic it sounds. And think about what people will say. Maybe, not immediately, a day later, two days after that, they will say we were scared," said Lukashenko.

President of Belarus warned the organizers that it's unacceptable to force people to participate in the parade.

"People do not want to, they are afraid, they take care of their health – we will understand it. There are enough people today – thousands and thousands of people want this event to take place," stressed Lukashenko.

He pointed out that there are very few war participants left and they want to see the parade.

"It is clear that they are already over 90. We’ll think about what to do with them. I follow my tactics – old people should be taken care of. We can all see that all these infections hit on the old people first, though the young can also be affected. Therefore, no one should be dragged off to this mass event," stressed Lukashenko.

The President of Belarus believes that people won't understand "if we scared disperse to our holes".

Lukashenko expressed confidence that the parade is "not the most dangerous event" from the point of view of virologists if properly organized.

As reported earlier, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the authorities had no intention to prohibit believers from attending churches at Easter because of the coronavirus.

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