BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/10/2007

Belarusian Opposition Recaps "European March"...

The organizers of the opposition's European March for Freedom in Minsk on October 14 told journalists the following day that they are satisfied with how the demonstration went, Belapan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 15, 2007). Viktor Ivashkevich, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, estimated that some 5,000 people attended the demonstration. He criticized "radical youths" who, he said, did not march on the sidewalk but tried to block the traffic on Minsk's main thoroughfare. Meanwhile, a group of young opposition activists reportedly presented toy shovels and buckets to the organizing committee of the march, mocking what they saw as the opposition's submission to an official order to take a different route and march toward People's Friendship Park on the capital's outskirts, where Minsk residents walk their dogs. "These small shovels and buckets are a symbolic present for you to pick up dog droppings in the park," Belapan quoted one anonymous young activist as saying. Belarusian Popular Front Chairman Vintsuk Vyachorka, commenting on the young activists' dissatisfaction with the march, said the opposition's "routine work is not as intoxicating as the feeling of freedom when you block traffic." JM

...AND GETS READY FOR ANOTHER

The organizers of the Social March, scheduled to take place Minsk on November 4, have invited senior government officials to meet with them to discuss the demonstration and the issue it seeks to highlight -- the loss of state benefits for many social groups, Belapan reported on October 15, quoting Belarusian Party of Communists Deputy Chairman Valery Ukhnalyou. Ukhnalyou said that invitations have been sent to Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski, presidential-administration deputy head Natalia Pyatkevich, and Leanid Kozik, the leader of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus. Earlier this month, opposition leaders handed the Belarusian National Assembly some 40,000 signatures on a petition against the upcoming abolition of many state benefits (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 3, 2007). The bill cutting social benefits passed in May and is to take effect as of January 2008. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/10/3-cee/cee-161007.asp