BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/03/2007

Poles attend concert held in solidarity with Belarus's democratic opposition

The Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland: Thousands packed a central Warsaw square Sunday evening for a concert held as a show of solidarity with the democratic opposition in neighboring Belarus.

About 8,000 people, mostly teenagers and young adults, showed up to enjoy the free concert of popular Polish groups performing pop, rap and reggae, what the organizers called the "music of freedom."

It was a show of support for the opposition in neighboring Belarus, which is struggling against the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by some Western countries.

"Lukashenko doesn't know what democracy is and should leave," said Nikolas Maszkiewicz, 18, who was waving one the many large white-red-white flags of the Belarusian opposition that swayed in Warsaw's packed Castle Square.

Many Poles identify strongly with the Belarusian people because they too lived under authoritarian rule - Communism - before throwing it off in 1989. In addition, Belarus has a large ethnic Polish minority that has faced repression.

Earlier in the day, about 15,000 people protested Lukashenko's government in Minsk. That rally ended without large clashes with police, unlike many opposition demonstrations in previous years held on March 25, a traditional day of opposition protests dubbed Freedom Day.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/25/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Belarus-Opposition.php