26 April 2004 21:57
Belarus opposition holds Chernobyl anniversary rally
Minsk, 26 April: About 1,000 marched through central Minsk on 26 April to mark the 18th anniversary of the Chernobyl
disaster. The demonstrators gathered at Yakub Kolas Square and walked along the pavements to Bangalore Square, located
several blocks away, because the city government had banned the march authorizing a rally only in the park adjacent to
the square. Demonstrators, mostly youths, carried signs, white-red-white [nationalist] flags and chanted anti-government
slogans. People at the head of the procession carried the traditional Chernobyl bell and the Chernobyl icon.
Speakers at the rally included Ivan Nikitchanka, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences; Vintsuk
Vyachorka, leader of the Belarusian People's Front [BPF-Revival Party]; Yuliya Malysheva of the youth wing of
Russia's Union of Right Forces; Heorhiy Lepin, a participant in the disaster relief operation; and human rights
campaigner Lyudmila Hraznova.
The speakers urged the authorities to ban food production in the contaminated areas and restore benefits to Chernobyl
victims.
After the rally, which ended in a prayer, police officers handed summons to the organizers Hraznova, Alyaksandr
Mikhalevich and [trade union activist] Henadz Bykaw - to report to the Savetski district police office at 9a.m. [0600
gmt] tomorrow. They are likely to be charged with breaking the mass demonstration law and staging the march without
authorization.
[Belapan news agency] |
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