Viva Maria: Belarusian protesters celebrate leader who chose jail over exile
(Reuters) - Maria Kolesnikova’s decision to rip up her passport and risk prison rather than exile has burnished the musician-turned-politician’s status as a hero to the mass protest movement against veteran Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Dozens of people were detained this week as protesters took to the streets chanting her name and holding up placards, some reading “Viva Maria”. Her face was superimposed on the image of a Soviet World War Two poster and projected onto the side of a building in Minsk.