Some 50 people gathered at Prague’s Palacky Square on May 7 to demonstrate against Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s political regime.
Prominent Belarusian opposition politicians Alyaksandr Kazulin, Zyanon Paznyak, Stanislaw Shushkevich and Ivonka Survilla, who arrived in the Czech capital city earlier this week, addressed the gathering.
The demonstration was timed to coincide with the European Union’s Eastern Partnership launch summit scheduled for Thursday evening.
Ms. Survilla, the Canadian-based chairwoman of the BNR Rada (government in exile of the Belarusian National Republic), asked for "God’s help in ensuring that all efforts by Belarusian non-governmental organizations to support Belarusian culture prove fruitful".
Mr. Pazdnyak, the émigré leader of the Conservative Christian Party, emphasized the importance of the unity showed by "political opponents" among the opposition on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit. "Lukashenka should be prevented from using Europe and having his regime legalized, - he said. - A major characteristic of Belarus is its culture. We should not lose it".
The gathering protested "politically motivated reprisals in Belarus" and called on the EU to take a "more principled approach" to the Belarusian authorities.
