26 November 2002
Truck drivers block traffic to protest customs officers' slow work at Brest's Zadvortsy checkpoint

 Truck drivers on November 24 blocked traffic for an hour and a half on the Brest-Minsk highway near the village Khaby in the Brest district to urge customs officers at the Zadvortsy checkpoint to speed their work.

The spontaneous protest burst out, as the line of truck-trailers waiting for their turn to be inspected at the checkpoint was up to 15 kilometers long, and drivers had to wait for more than 24 hours to cross the border into Poland.
As an officer with the Brest regional police department told BelaPAN, Vladimir Shafarenko, chief of the department and officials of the regional road police and the Zapadny Bug customs house checkpoint visited the scene and managed to persuade the drivers to clear the road.
Commenting on the situation an official with the Zapadny Bug customs house insisted that they should not be blamed for the long line. He said that customs inspectors had worked in a usual mode, and that 286 vehicles had been passed during the last shift instead of a usual 250. Long truck lines are typical for the end of a year, as many
companies hurry to fulfill their contractual commitments, which results in more trucks crossing the border, the official explained. It is now impossible to increase the capacity of customs checkpoints, he added.
Belarusian customs officers tend to put part of the blame for the slow pace of customs examination on their Polish colleagues, who have recently begun to inspect cargo vehicles more thoroughly, which leads to a slower inspection pace.
The regional police department denied the protesters' allegation that some vehicles, with the help of police officers, had crossed the border bypassing the line. The drivers also complained that they could not see any roadside cafes, hotels and comfortable toilets within a distance of 15 kilometers from the checkpoint, although all drivers crossing the border are required to pay environmental and other local duties that were said to be spent for developing roadside services.