Pickets "For fair elections without Lukashenka" are banned all over Belarus
The appropriate campaign was launched by the
United Civil Party. Such pickets were banned in Babruisk, Barysau, Brest and Mahiliou. The
organizers wanted to hold the actions in busy places in order to attract the
attention of the population. However, they were usually answered that the
pickets could be held only in the places that had been officially determined
for such actions.
As a rule, such places are located on the outskirts or in some unfrequented
places. Another reason for the denials is the "failure of the organizers
to conclude paid service agreements with police, medics and communal
utilities". However, these institutions refuse to conclude any agreements
with organizers of street actions before seeing an official permission, signed
by the authorities.
In Brest, the
organizers were prohibited to hold their action on "Locomotive"
stadium (an officially determined place for mass events) as a festive program
would be held there on the occasion of the Day of Family.
Babruisk authorities submitted quite an interesting answer to the organizers.
Deputy head of the Babruisk City Executive Committee Aliaksandr Markachou (who
has recently occupied the position of the chief ideologist) wrote that the
application didn’t comply with Article 2 of the Law “On Mass Events” which
contains no notion of “picket”, and violated Article 8 of the Law, according to
which the organizers had no right to publish information about the place and
the date of the action before receiving an official permit (on 5 May 2012 the
web-site of “Babruiski Kur’yer” published information about the intention of
the people to hold the action).
The authorities also studied the working schedule of one of the organizers,
Valery Mikitka and wrote that as far as he would work at the time of the event,
he would violate the first paragraph of his undertaking (to be present at the
event”. Moreover, according to the head of the Babruisk UCP Viktar Buzinayeu,
the official also threatened the organizers with administrative punishment in
case they decided to hold unauthorized actions.
