Tsikhanouskaya's team barred from holding big pre-election rally in Belarusian capital
The campaign office of the presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya has decided to cancel a rally and concert in Bangalore Square in Minsk. The event was expected to start at 5 pm on August, 6.
“We are not allowed to hold rallies at any venue in Minsk, as well as in Slutsk and Salihorsk. The authorities’ actions are absolutely illegal; we have appealed against this decision to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Central Election Commission and Minsk City Executive Committee, but we are not going to get people into trouble,” Telegram channel A Country for Living reports.
At the same time, the representatives of the united election teams’ headquarters (Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Maryia Kalesnikava and Veranika Tsapkala) have informed that they are going to visit an educational event in Kyiv Garden at 7 pm.
Tsikhanouskaya’s team filed an application for staging a rally in the Peoples’ Friendship Park which is reserved for pre-election campaigning as far back as mid July, but on August 3, the authorities of Savetski district of Minsk announced their intention to organise celebrations on occasion of Railway Troops’ Day at the same venue and time.
On Thursday evening, plainclothed policemen detained Tsikhanouskaya’s election agent Maryia Maroz and warned her that in case of holding today’s rally in the Peoples’ Friendship Park, its organisers might be jailed.
On July 30, about 63,000 persons took part in the rally in support of presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Minsk, which has become a new record for the recent ten years.
