Belarus Days in Prague
A series of events with the participation of the Belarusian opposition's representatives took place in the Czech capital on May 4-7 in the framework of the 'Belarusian Days in Prague'.
On Monday, May 4 a documentary film on Belarus entitled "The Kingdom of Dead Mice" was shown in Prague's city library. A discussion on the political situation in Belarus followed. It was attended by the Belarusian political analyst Ales Lahvinets and former Czech interior minister Jan Ruml.
On May 5 ex-presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin, chairwoman of the Belarusian People's Republic Ivonka Survilla, leader of the Conservative Christian Part of the Belarusian Popular Front Zianon Pazniak, leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Hramada Stanislau Shushkevich and leader of the ”For Freedom” movement Alyaksandr Milinkevich met with the Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek.
On the same day Ivonka Survilla, Pazniak, Kazulin and Shushkevich met with Prague's Belarusian community - mainly with students - and answered their questions.
In the morning of May 6, the five politicians hel meetings at the foreign affairs committee of the Czech parliament. In the evening, the Free Theater from Minsk performed the play "Generation Jeans" in the Montmartre gallery.
Besides, the five representatives of the Belarusian opposition took part in the conference entitled "Eastern Partnership: Forming A Forum of Civil Society" on May 5-6.
On May 7, the Belarusian oppositionists met the Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Afterwards, they answered questions by journalists.
In the afternoon of May 7 a demonstration against political repressions in Belarus was held on a central square in Prague . Later about 200 demonstrators - representing Belarusian diasporas from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Belgium - picketed Prague's Congressional Centrum, the initial site of the European Union's Eastern Partnership project. They demanded democratic reforms in Belarus and greeted the official Belarus delegation with shouts of "Shame!"
This article appeared in
Belarusian Review, Vol. 21, No. 2
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Source: European Radio for Belarus, May 8, 2009.
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