He stated this on March 5 after the canceled meeting of the organizing committee for the celebration.
The meeting of the organizing committee to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the BPR was canceled because of the inability of its participants to agree. The venue, the office of the Belarusian Popular Front on Charnysheuskaha Street in Minsk, was closed an hour before the meeting “due to the postponement of the meeting and for technical reasons.”
Disagreements over the Freedom Day celebrations were there also last year: the BPF advocated that the rally plan be announced in advance, and Mikalai Statkevich insisted that “it should be decided on the spot, guided by the number and mood of the participants.”
Some members of the organizing committee came to the BPF office, including Mikalai Statkevich, who said that the meeting would take place on the street.
Statkevich proposed to submit a new application to the Minsk City Executive Committee for holding the rally, changing the time of gathering so that people could come to the concert near the opera house.
Supporters of the March 25 rally have four days to file an application. By law, the application must be submitted in writing no later than 15 days before the date of the mass event.
Last week, the city authorities allowed to hold a Freedom Day concert and a rally next to the Opera and Ballet Theater.
Part of the organizing committee agreed to such a compromise, but filed an appeal with the Minsk City Executive Committee about the viability of the rally. The second part approved the decision of the authorities, but continues to insist on the march through the city.
