Hrodna Authorities Prohibit 19 March Meeting

According to RFE/RL

Hrodna authorities didn’t authorize a meeting appointed on 19 March. Today the chair of Hrodna regional organization of the United Civil Party Iury Istomin received a negative answer from Hrodna city executive committee, to which he had applied together with two other UCP activists.

In its answer the CEC stated that the organizers wouldn’t be able to normally organize the event and guarantee the public security and therefore it was decided to prohibit the meeting.

Valery Levaneuski, the chair of an unregistered strike committee of entrepreneurs, commented that the authorities feared that entrepreneurs will come to the meeting to speak about their problems. The impossibility to guarantee the security of participants is only a pretext for the denial, as it is a duty of the police, not of the organizers.