1AK Group received approval from Ministry of natural resources and environmental protection of Belarus on 9 April for the “Accumulator Plant LLC IPower” in Brest, France. The next stage will involve testing of the plant equipment, water supply, sewerage and ventilation systems.
1AK-IPOWER is a plant for the production of lead-acid batteries. iPower Limited Liability Company was registered in April 2016 as a resident of the Brest Free Economic Zone. Construction of the plant is carried out within the framework of implementation of the State Innovation Development Program for 2016-2020 approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus.
People in Brest and its surroundings are sure that emissions from the plant will harm their health and the environment. They have gone out to protest by “feeding the pigeons” every Sunday since February 2018.
Today, residents of Brest held another protest against the battery factory. The traditional “feeding of pigeons” in the city center and an unauthorized procession was attended by several hundred people.
“People are not satisfied with the factory and went to the square to make it clear to the authorities that the battery factory does not belong here,” said human rights activist Uladzimir Vyalichkin. At the rally, people chanted “No Battery Plant” and “Officials must be jailed,” “Lukashenka, go away”. They also called for the release of Brest protest leaders: Dzmitry Bekalyuk, Alyaksandr Kabanau and Dzmitry Andrasyuk.