Wed, 23/09/2015 - 20:00
MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – An authorized opposition rally took place in Minsk on 23 September. The number of participants peaked at 180-200 people taking into account reporters and police officers, BelTA has learned.
The rally took place in Svobody Square. At about 17:50 the opposition leaders Nikolai Statkevich and Vladimir Neklyayev and about 60-70 of their supporters gathered in the public garden near the old Minsk city hall. Later on they moved on to the other side of the building.
Anatoly Lebedko was also among the opposition leaders. He urged citizens not to participate in the election. The opposition leader took part in the initial stage of the current presidential election campaign. The initiative group registered to nominate Anatoly Lebedko as a presidential candidate has failed to submit the necessary number of voter signatures. The voter signature lists were not submitted to election commissions for verification. The opposition leaders also roughly criticized the current Belarusian government.
Human rights activists and at least one representative of the OSCE ODIHR short-term election observation mission watched the rally. A uniformed police officer approached the organizers of the rally to press administrative charges against the three organizers of the public event.
The rally lasted for roughly 50 minutes. As of 19:20 about 30 people and the opposition leaders were still in Svobody Square. The opposition leaders were giving interview to some mass media.
source: http://eng.belta.by/all_news/politics/Up-to-200-people-turn-up-for-unauthorized-opposition-rally-in-Minsk_i_84695.html
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