Small Protest Jeopardizes Remaining Free Activists

UNCLAS MINSK 000477 SIPDIS SIPDIS KIEV ALSO FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL BO SUBJECT: Small Protest Jeopardizes Remaining Free Activists Ref: A) Minsk 470, B) Minsk 459 ¶1. On May 1, Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada head Stanislav Shushkevich led approximately 300 people carrying signs and waving banned national flags from the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to Bangalore Square for a rally in honor of Labor Day (ref A). [Note: While authorities had granted permission for a rally at Bangalore Square, the march from NAS to Bangalore Square was not sanctioned by the GOB. End Note.] Speakers, including Ten Plus Coalition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich's wife Inna Kulei and United Civic Party (UCP) deputy Alexander Dobrovolsky, addressed a crowd of approximately 500 demonstrators calling for an end to short-term labor contracts and demanding the release of political prisoners, especially Milinkevich, Belarusian Popular Front head Vintsuk Vyachorka, Belarusian Party of Communist head Sergei Kalyakin, and trade unionist Aleksandr Bukhvostov, who were imprisoned after the April 26 Chernobyl Shliakh (ref B). ¶2. Immediately following the demonstration, police ordered Shushkevich to report to the Minsk Pervomaisky district police station on May 3 to explain his involvement in the unauthorized march from NAS to Bangalore Square. Independent media news source Belapan reported that Shushkevich did not appear at the police station on May 3 since he was attending a conference in Vilnius. Also on May 1, traffic police stopped the car of Minsk city UCP leader Igor Shinkarik and brought him to the Sovietsky district police station. ¶3. A state "news" crew from Belarusian Television (BT) harassed and videotaped Pol/Econ Chief and POLOFF as they observed the May 1 demonstration. [Note: On the April 30 evening news show, BT claimed that Pol/Econ Chief was directing the April 26 demonstration since he was talking on his cell phone during the demonstration and gesturing at the participants. BT also showed footage of Pol/Econ Chief attempting to jaywalk across a busy street during the demonstration, claiming that he did not observe Belarusian traffic laws. End Note.] KROL