MULTIPLE ARRESTS AFTER HUNDREDS PROTEST ON OCTOBER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 001011

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON PINR BO
SUBJECT: MULTIPLE ARRESTS AFTER HUNDREDS PROTEST ON OCTOBER
SQUARE

REF: A. MINSK 787

B. STATE 164397

C. MINSK 1006

Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for reason 1.4 (d).

Summary
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1. (C) Nine activists have been sentenced to up to ten days
in jail and opposition party leader Anatoliy Lebedko received
minor injuries when security services cracked down after the
conclusion of a successful protest against restrictions on
small businesses December 10. The demonstration itself saw
several hundred activists and entrepreneurs gather peacefully
in Minsk's central square and obtain a promise from an MP to
meet later in the month to discuss grievances. End summary.

Plainclothes Officers Nab Protestors after Demonstration
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2. (C) United Civic Party Chair Anatoliy Lebedko -- who had
returned over the weekend from the opposition delegation's
December 3-8 visit to Washington -- told Charge at the
Embassy December 11 that seven plainclothes officers tried to
abduct him and several other activists as they were walking
to their cars after the demonstration. The officers refused
to provide any identification and the activists resisted. At
that point up to twenty additional plainclothes "spetsnaz"
officers responded. Lebedko and others escaped but four
activists were detained. Lebedko, sporting two bandages
above his right eye, said his coat was ripped and he also
injured a finger in the melee.


3. (SBU) Nine activists (Boris Goretskiy, Kristina
Shatikova, Aleksey Koshkarov, Viktor Gorbachev, Viktor
Kryval, Viktor Kaley, Aleksandr Makayev and Aleksandr
Tsetsura and Viktor Ivashkevich) face charges of organizing

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an unsanctioned rally and/or swearing in public. Several
other activists were also detained, but released without
being charged. Poloffs visited with supporters outside the
two courthouses where trials took place December 11: as of
this writing, Gorbachev has been sentenced to 15 days in jail
for holding an unsanctioned demonstration, with Tsetsura was
sentenced to 10 days and Makayev for seven days, both on the
charge of minor hooliganism. We will provide further details
on the demonstrators' sentences separately; some of them will
be charged again with similar offenses.

Demonstration Itself Unhindered by Heavy Security Presence
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4. (C) Several hundred people attended the unsanctioned
demonstration on October Square to protest Presidential
Decree 760, which would prevent individual entrepreneurs from
employing anyone other than immediate relatives and from
selling certain goods (ref A). United Civic Party Deputy
Head Igor Shinkarik and lawyer Sergey Balykin told Poloffs
the turnout was respectable. Lebedko was more positive,
noting it was the largest protest on the center of October
Square since 2006 demonstrations against Lukashenko's
fraudulent re-election. Balykin noted that more vendors
would have demonstrated if organizers had held the event at
Bangalore Square, the remote venue authorized by the Minsk
Executive Committee. Shinkarik complained of prior police
actions to disrupt the event, including the arrests of at
least four organizers (Aleksandr Tolstyko, Ruslan Lutsenko,
Tsetsura and Makayev).

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5. (C) Lebedko said the ability of demonstrators to secure a
promise from MP Anatol Pavlovich that officials would meet
with entrepreneurs on December 19 to discuss complaints was a
victory. He noted, however, that organizers would postpone
any such talks until all those in detention were released.


6. (SBU) Scores of plainclothes officers mingled with
protestors and Poloffs witnessed five paddy wagons and at
least six busloads of uniformed officers stationed near
October Square. At no point did the forces attempt to block
access to the square, although a truck with loudspeakers
blasted calls for the crowd to disperse, preventing most
participants from hearing speeches by demonstration
organizers.

Comment
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7. (C) Previous sizable demonstrations involving

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entrepreneurs this year (ref A) took place with government
authorization. The organizers' success in drawing hundreds
of vendors to an unauthorized event may suggest growing
willingness among small business owners to become involved in
politics, something generally considered as too risky for
anyone with a business registration to protect. Still, it is
possible the crackdown after the events' conclusion will
suffice to keep support for further such protests limited.


8. (C) In his meeting with Charge December 11, Lebedko was
sanguine about his injuries; he reported that he has
undergone a perfunctory examination by a friend who is a
surgeon, and does not intend to press charges (largely
because of the bureaucracy involved and the unlikelihood of
actual judicial results). In contrast, the UCP leader was
very upbeat about the meetings he and other opposition
figures had in Washington last week (ref B) and was fairly
optimistic about the role to be played by new Belarusian
People's Front Chair Barshevskiy (ref C).
MOORE