Opposition demonstration in Brest draws some 200 people

Some 200 people attended a sanctioned May Day demonstration held by the Hramada Belarusian Social Democratic Party (BSDP) in Brest on Wednesday.

The crowd displayed historically national white-red-white flags and BSDP emblems, as well as signs protesting plans for a Russian airbase in Belarus and university tuition hikes.

The demonstrators marched through the city’s center to Lenin Square, where they chanted “Long live Belarus!” several times and dispersed.

Ihar Maslowski, leader of the BSDP chapter in the Brest region, said that the event had been attended also by members of the United Civic Party, the Belarusian Popular Front, the “Spravedlivy Mir” (Just World) Belarusian Party of the Left, the “Tell the Truth!” movement and independent trade unions.

“We managed to hold a full-scale May Day demonstration on the city’s central streets for the first time in 11 years,” said Mr. Maslowski.

Some demonstrators said that the event would have drawn many more people if it had not been raining. The event passed off without incidents.