Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civic Party and co-chairman of the United Democratic Forces, and UCP member Alyaksandr Stsepanenka were briefly detained by police on Wednesday over the distribution of flyers containing information about the opposition coalition’s Anti-crisis Platform on Minsk streets.
Messrs. Lyabedzka and Stsepanenka were arrested while they were passed out the flyers near the downtown Kamarowski Rynak market. They were taken to the Savetski district police station. They were released without charges, but the flyers that they had on them were seized. Police officers even gave Mr. Lyabedzka a lift to his home.
"At the police station, officers recorded the seizure of 500 copies of the flyers and an information bulletin titled, "A Jolt of Freedom," and ordered us to write explanations regarding their distribution. After that, they drove us to the Vyasnyanka neighborhood where I reside, explaining that they wanted to take us far away from the Savetski district."
Since the city government denied permission for dozens of pickets that were to be put up in Minsk on September 30 to familiarize the public with the platform, the United Civic Party has decided to organize "flying pickets," Mr. Lyabedzka told BelaPAN on Tuesday.
According to him, activists of the United Democratic Forces filed applications for permission to put up 450 pickets in 50 cities throughout Belarus on September 30. Only two pickets, one in Mahilyow and one in Polatsk, were permitted to be put up.
The Anti-crisis Platform consists of three sections. The first section assesses the current economic situation in the country. The second one proposes high-priority measures to be carried out within three months and the final section deals with the guidelines of a new economic policy for a period of between three and five years. The platform prioritizes the balanced development of the economy and calls on the government to speed up the introduction of information technologies in the economic management system.
