OPPOSITION,S TENUOUS PLANS FOR LABOR DAY RALLY

UNCLAS MINSK 000470 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS KIEV FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BO SUBJECT: OPPOSITION,S TENUOUS PLANS FOR LABOR DAY RALLY REF: MINSK 459 ¶1. (SBU) Despite the recent imprisonment of most of the main opposition leaders (reftel),Ten Plus Coalition press secretary Pavel Mazheiko told Poloff on April 28 that the May SIPDIS 1 demonstration would not be canceled. Party of Communists of Belarus' deputy chairman Valery Uknalyev, who is responsible for planning the event for the Coalition, told Emboff that the opposition has received permission to hold a rally on Bangalor Square at noon on May 1. However, Uknalyev said that the Coalition has printed up fliers telling people to meet at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at 1100 on May 1 before marching to Bangalor Square. (Note: The march from NAS to Bangalor Square has not been sanctioned by the GOB. Representatives from the Ideology Department of the Minsk City Executive Committee confirmed that the GOB approved requests from Uknalyev's and Kozulin's parties for an opposition-led demonstration at noon on May 1 at Bangalor Square.) ¶2. (SBU) Mazheiko told Poloff that the Coalition leadership members who are not in jail plan to lead the rally in honor of Belarusian Labor Day, but that the Coalition has not coordinated plans for this demonstration with representatives from rival opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin's camp. Deputy head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gramada) Anatoly Levkovich told Poloff on April 28 that Kozulin's leadership still has not received an answer from the GOB about whether Kozulin's party can hold a May 1 Labor Day demonstration at Bangalor Square. Levkovich said, however, that the local authorities have denied the party's requests to hold Labor Day rallies in the regions. Deputy head of Kozulin's presidential campaign team Alexei Korol told Poloff that Kozulin's party expects to receive an answer from the GOB sometime on April 29 as to whether and where it can hold its Labor Day demonstration. Krol