BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

04/11/2007

Opposition student demonstrators attacked in Belarus

Author : DPA

Minsk - Pro-government activists in Belarus attacked a demonstration by some two hundred students opposed to policies of the country's authoritarian leader Aleskander Lukashenko on Sunday, sparking a street brawl involving dozens in the capital Minsk. Organizers of the sanctioned march were demonstrating against the government's recent cancellation of substantial student benefits, including stipends and tuition assistance payments.

Lukashenko last month said the measures were necessary to save the government money. Protestors described the changes as a repressive measure targeting one of the few social groups in Belarus still willing to stand up to the former collective farm boss's one-man rule.

Prior to the assault, the marchers had been peaceful, limiting their actions to anti-government chants and attempts to draw attention by banging pots and pans.

The column came to a complete halt as pro-Lukashenko activists attempted to take away anti-government banners from the marchers near the centrally-located Academy of Sciences building.

More than thirty men wearing black outfits charged the marchers pushing the demonstrators into automobile traffic. The brawl that followed was broken up by police.

The young men in black were reportedly members of the Russian National Unity group, an organization supporting the return of Belarus to Kremlin control and having a hostile stance towards the European Union and NATO.

Source:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/136096.html