The authorities have opened a third monument to a policeman in the center of Minsk. Only military monuments outnumber those dedicated to policemen in the city.
Now, an additional bronze policeman in a Soviet-style uniform stands near the new building of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee on Dobromyslensky Lane. Blizko.by noted that the building was officially opened in March of this year and that there was no monument then. This is already the third monument to police officers in Minsk. In 2017, a statue of a policeman was installed on Haradzki Val Street to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Minsk police. Minsk residents did not appreciate it. Residents were detained for tying scarves to the sculpture and were fined for placing nooses around the bronze. A 16-year-old was even forced to publicly apologize for hitting the statue in the face.
The following year, in 2018, a second sculpture appeared in the city: a modern policeman in the courtyard of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Masherau Avenue.
There are just as many monuments to doctors in the capital, but only one was erected in the post-war period. The first is a monument to oncologists, which was unveiled in 2019 at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Oncology and Medical Radiology, named after N. N. Alyaksandrau. The second is a bust of the surgeon Siarhei Spasakukotski, which was erected in front of the Pirogov City Clinical Hospital during the postwar period (1946–1947).
However, there are far fewer monuments to rescuers and firefighters in Minsk than to police officers. They were installed quite recently. For instance, a monument to rescuers who died in the line of duty was unveiled in 2022. In 2019, the first sculpture of a firefighter was unveiled on Haradzki Val.
Tessa Oneida / AB belsat.eu