BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/02/2010

Belarus morality watchdog raps planned concert by Rammstein

Interfax-Ukraine

Minsk, February 22 (Interfax) - A Belarus morality watchdog that includes several dozen public figures and the leaders of all of the country's principal religious communities, on Monday attacked a planned concert in Minsk by German rock band Rammstein and urged the Belarusian culture minister to review the concert program.

"The decision to bring Rammstein to Minsk is a mistake that may cost us dearly. The council is convinced that the band engages in an undisguised propaganda of homosexuality, masochism and other perversions, brutality, violence, and obscene language," the Council for Public Morality said in a statement.

The council was co-founded in 2009 by the Belarusian Orthodox Church and Belarusian Writers Union with support from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

It is headed by Writers Union Chairman Nikolai Cherginets and includes the leaders of the country's Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish and Muslim communities and several dozen other public figures.

"I realize that tickets have already been sold for the concert in Minsk. So the program needs a preliminary run-through and an approval so that there is no propaganda of immorality on the Minsk stage," Cherginets said.

"If what is shown during the concert is what the [Public Council for Morality] has been able to see, there will be an inevitable outburst of rapes and brutality in the Belarusian capital," he said.

Interfax has been unable to obtain comments from Rammstein but the organizers of the concert, to be held at the Palace of the Republic, said they had had no official objections against the planned event.

"We have received no official documents to the effect that anyone is dissatisfied with upcoming concert," the organizers said.

"We have had no statements and no one has contacted us except for journalists. There have been no official papers, so there is no reason for comments," they said.

"As soon as there is any signal to us, we will take some action on the basis of the decisions of higher organizations, on the basis of their position," the organizers said. "Everything depends what proposals we will receive from higher bodies."

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/guide/guidenews/detail/60158/


Partners:
Face.by Social Network
Face.by