GOMEL, 18 September (BelTA) – The majority of Hasidic pilgrims have left the neutral zone on the border with Ukraine and moved to Belarus, BelTA learned from Aleksei Dyubenkov, a spokesman of the Gomel branch of the State Border Committee of Belarus.
The Jews started leaving the neutral zone last night. The Hasidic pilgrims were returning in small groups of five to six people. The majority of them were moving towards Belarus between 6.00 and 10.00 on 18 September. Over 700 people passed all kinds of control. Women with small children left the neutral zone in the first place.
“There is no crowd at the Novaya Guta checkpoint. We have tried our best to complete everything promptly,” the official representative said.
According to Aleksei Dyubenkov, some 200 people remain in the neutral zone. There are no children among them. Some of them are collecting their things and starting moving to the Belarusian border checkpoint.
As BelTA reported earlier, over 1,000 Hasidic pilgrims gathered in the neutral zone between Belarus and Ukraine. They were traveling to the holy site in the city of Uman, Ukraine. The Novi Yarylovychi checkpoint has been closed until 27 September. The Jews remained at the Ukrainian border in the hope of reaching their destination, where they planned to celebrate the New Year according to the their national calendar.
