BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2006

Belarus marks Chernobyl anniversary

More than 5,000 opposition protesters in the Belarusian capital marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster despite police fencing off a downtown square where they had planned to rally.

Alexander Milinkevich, the opposition candidate who challenged authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in last month's disputed election, said the closure of the square showed authorities were scared.

Oktyabrskaya Square was the same plaza in Minsk where an unprecedented week of protests was held in March after presidential elections that the opposition claimed were fraudulent.

"If the authorities are afraid of us, that's okay. But if the authorities are afraid to talk with the people, that's a tragedy," Milinkevich told protesters.

Defying orders

Prosecutors had summoned Milinkevich earlier on Wednesday and warned him not to appear at the start of the evening rally, commemorating the nuclear explosion that covered nearly a quarter of Belarus' territory with radioactive fallout.

He vowed to defy their order not to be at the square, which is both the symbolic centre of the opposition and across the street from the presidential administration building.

Authorities had given permission for the rally, but banned Milinkevich and other political figures from appearing at the march's starting point of Oktyabrskaya Square.

As the crowd tried to reach the square, police loudly ordered them through loudspeakers to move about two kilometres away to the Academy of Sciences, where authorities had authorised the rally to take place. (AP)

Source:

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Belarus+marks+Chernobyl+anniversary&id=87296

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