Your Pain is Our Pain (photo)

Mourning events on occasion of the death of the Polish president and Polish leadership are held in Minsk. People are coming to Poland’s embassy, catholic churches hold services.

Minsk dwellers began to come to the Polish Embassy in Minsk yesterday, when a plane with Polish president on board crashed near Smolensk. People brought candles and flowers to express their solidarity with the people of Poland.

On April 10, about 200 people gathered in front of the embassy from 7 to 8 p.m. Among the people present were leader of the European Belarus civil campaign Andrei Sannikov, head of Free Theatre Mikalai Khalezin, former political prisoner Alyaksandr Kazulin, one of the leaders of the social democrats Alyaksei Karol, poet Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, other politicians and public figures. Both famous people and common citizens lay flowers and light candles near the embassy.

A condolence book was opened in the Polish embassy in Minsk for president Lech Kaczynski and other officials. Everyone can sign the book. The book contains such words as "Your pain is our pain".

A memorial service for the people killed in the crash of the Polish governmental plane was held in Cathedral of Saint Virgin Mary in Minsk.

The service was attended by Henryk Litwin, the ambassador of Poland to Belarus, officers of the Polish embassy, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Minsk, ambassadors of different states.

Archbishop of Minsk and Mahilou Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz reminded in his sermon that several thousands of Polish army officers as well as Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians had been killed in Katyn in 1940. "The elite was killed, and yesterday the tragedy repeated, representatives of the Polish elite died there," Kondrusiewicz said.

Speaking about the Polish president, the archbishop noted that Lech Kaczynski adhered to the principles of the Catholic faith. "He stood for the truth, he devoted his life to struggling for the truth," Kondrusiewicz emphasized. "It’s not an easy task to be a president of a EU country, where secularism and moral relativism rule, but he always upheld the principles of Christianity".