6.00 pm, October square, action of solidarity

An action of support of democratic activists, suffering from the mass repressions of the authorities after the bomb blast during the celebrating of the official Independence Day, is to be held today on October square at 6.00 pm.

Members of all political parties, who were going to run in the coming “parliamentary election”, will come to the square to demand to release the detained people.

“This action is initiated by the presidium of the Political Council of the democratic forces. In fact, it will be an extended session of the presidium in field conditions. A final decision on further format of participation of the parties in the electoral campaign will be taken there. The authorities still have a chance to stop a machine of repressions, set detained democratic activists free and start a normal electoral campaign. Otherwise they will be in danger of a full boycott of the election,” Viktar Ivashkevich, deputy head of the Belarusian Popular Front, told to the Charter’97 press center.

The planned participants of the action are: that head of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka, deputy heads of the Belarusian Popular Front Vintsuk Vyachorka and Viktar Ivashkevich, deputy head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) Ihar Rynkevich, leader of the Party of Communists of Belarus Syarhei Kalyakin and other famous people of Belarus.

Moreover, regional leaders of the democratic forces, who are on the single list of candidates, will join them.

It should be reminded that more then 1 opposition activists were arrested allegedly on suspicion of implication in the organising of the explosion in Minsk. Three of them – activist of the “European Belarus” civil campaign Paval Kuryanovich, democratic activist Syarhei Vysotski and member of the United Civil Party Alyaksandr Serhienka, were released from pretrial detention centers this weekend. However, many activists are still behind the bars. Interrogations and searching of apartments of the democratic activists go on. As human rights activists think, the authorities use the blast to tighten the repressions against the opposition.