BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/03/2007

Belarus's 2006 Election Protests Commemorated In Minsk

Several dozen people arrived at Minsk's October Square on the evening of March 19 to commemorate the protests that began there following the deeply flawed presidential election a year ago, Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. The demonstrators included Syarhey Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists; Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the United Civic Party; and Anatol Lyaukovich, acting chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada). Riot police pushed out the demonstrators from the square into a side street, where they dispersed. There were reportedly no arrests. In March 2006, the protests on October Square against President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's third term lasted four days, until riot police raided the tent camp built on the square and arrested some 300 protesters, who were subsequently sentenced to 15 days in jail in most cases. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/03/3-CEE/cee-200307.asp