Opposition rally held in Belarus
MINSK. Oct 28 (Interfax) - Representatives of Belarusian opposition parties have held an authorized rally scheduled to coincide with Ancestors Commemoration Day and set up crosses at the Kuropaty memorial cemetery.
The demonstrators were addressed by Yury Belenky, Vice Chairman of the Belarus Popular Front conservative Christian party - the organizer of the rally, who urged the nation to unite.
"We, Belarusians, hold power in all its entirety and we must work to ensure that the Belarusian authorities become truly Belarusian and that injustice and humiliation be uprooted. If this goal is to be attained we must unite," Belenky said.
A message was read out to the audience, written by the party's leader Zenon Poznyak, who has been living in Europe for more than ten years now. The year 2013 will mark 25 years since the Kuropaty memorial was opened, the message said.
The rally lasted about 30 minutes and passed off without detentions. Organizers claimed more than 400 people had gathered, while police said "just about a hundred were present."
During the rally the demonstrators demanded the release of political prisoners. They also demanded that the construction of an entertainment center near Kuropaty be stopped.
Ex-presidential candidates Grigory Kostusev, Vitaly Rymashevsky and Vladimir Neklyayev attended.
Kuropaty is a cemetery where victims of Stalin's political reprisals were buried. Representatives of Belarusian opposition parties gather here on Ancestors Commemoration Day. The first such rally was held 10 years ago.