BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/03/2007

Police block protesters from main square in Belarus capital, allow gathering elsewhere

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Some 15,000 opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian government gathered for a protest aimed at revitalizing the campaign against the leader whom Western countries have characterized as "Europe's last dictator."

Unlike many opposition demonstrations in previous years, Sunday's protest ended without large clashes with police and it was unclear whether that indicated the authoritarian government was becoming more tolerant of opposition.

The turnout also raised questions about whether the opposition can marshall large enough numbers to force change through demonstrations, as happened in fellow ex-Soviet Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgzstan in recent years.

Officers blocked the demonstrators from gathering on the city's main square and dispersed crowds gathered nearby in shoving matches, but the protesters were allowed to march to a site about two kilometers (1.5 miles ) away, where they rallied under close police watch but without interference.

It was the largest opposition rally since an April 2006 demonstration that followed on the previous month's unprecedented week of continuous protests against Lukashenko. Although those protests attracted worldwide attention, opposition leaders held off calling for other large gatherings, aiming instead to work on local, grass-roots organizing.

Sunday's rally sought to regain the momentum the opposition had built up last year, and opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich told the crowd that the free world stood behind their efforts.

"We should understand that we are not alone. The democratic world and Europe stand together with us," said Milinkevich, who was the key figure of last year's protests against Lukashenko's disputed re-election to a third term.

U.S. Ambassador Karen Brevard Stewart and the ambassadors from most of the European Union countries drove in their official cars alongside the column of protesters, earning cheers from the crowd of protesters - many of whom were waving European Union flags.

"Lukashenko is scared of us. All the police are a sign of his fear," said a 16-year-old demonstrator named Anton with his face wrapped in a European Union flag, who declined to give his surname.

The opposition said that at least 34 activists had been detained in the run-up to Sunday's rally and that 40 people were detained on Sunday across the country.

March 25 has been a traditional day of demonstration for the opposition, marking what they call Freedom Day - the anniversary of the 1918 declaration of the first, short-lived independent Belarusian state. Last year's demonstration ended with police clubbing demonstrators and arresting hundreds, including unsuccessful presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin, who later was sentenced to 5 1-2 years in prison.

Last year's stage-managed election and violent end to the protests brought widespread foreign criticism of Lukashenko, and many Western countries imposed travel sanctions on Belarusian officials. Lukashenko in turn claimed the West was plotting to unseat him.

Lukashenko is an open admirer of the Soviet Union and he has kept the country's economy largely under central control. Cheap natural gas and oil from Russia had helped the country sustain significant economic growth in recent years that bolstered Lukashenko's popularity.

But Russia this year hiked oil and gas prices for Belarus, putting Lukashenko under pressure. He has begun to speak about improving ties with European nations.

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a European Parliament member from Poland who came to observe the rally, said Lukashenko's government failed to show Sunday that it was ready for new dialogue with Europe.

"It could have been worse, but the means that Lukashenko used with demonstrators don't speak to any kind of turning point in his behavior," he said.

The Belarusian government blocked the Web sites of the opposition, and denied permission for the rally to use a public address system, forcing speakers to rely on a small megaphone.

But in a move that surprised opposition leaders, Lukashenko ordered the government to commemorate the founding of the first Belarusian state - which was overrun by the Bolsheviks after only 10 months.

The government had never previously acknowledged the date. A separate government-sponsored concert and rally downtown took place Sunday.

Alena Petrovskaya, 22, who brought her infant daughter to the opposition rally, said she was there "for the sake of my children's future." Asked if she was scared, Petrovskaya shot back: "Scared of who? No."

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/26340/