VZCZCXYZ0049
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSK #0470 1181422
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281422Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4333
INFO RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KIEV PRIORITY 3281
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 3453
RUEHRA/AMEMBASSY RIGA PRIORITY 1673
RUEHVL/AMEMBASSY VILNIUS PRIORITY 3677
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW PRIORITY 3328
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1133
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USMISSION USEU PRIORITY 0084

UNCLAS MINSK 000470 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
KIEV FOR USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BO
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION,S TENUOUS PLANS FOR LABOR DAY RALLY 
 
REF: MINSK 459 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Despite the recent imprisonment of most of the main 
opposition leaders (reftel), Ten Plus Coalition press 
secretary Pavel Mazheiko told Poloff on April 28 that the May 
 
SIPDIS 
1 demonstration would not be canceled.  Party of Communists 
of Belarus' deputy chairman Valery Uknalyev, who is 
responsible for planning the event for the Coalition, told 
Emboff that the opposition has received permission to hold a 
rally on Bangalor Square at noon on May 1.  However, Uknalyev 
said that the Coalition has printed up fliers telling people 
to meet at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at 1100 on 
May 1 before marching to Bangalor Square.  (Note: The march 
from NAS to Bangalor Square has not been sanctioned by the 
GOB.  Representatives from the Ideology Department of the 
Minsk City Executive Committee confirmed that the GOB 
approved requests from Uknalyev's and Kozulin's parties for 
an opposition-led demonstration at noon on May 1 at Bangalor 
Square.) 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Mazheiko told Poloff that the Coalition leadership 
members who are not in jail plan to lead the rally in honor 
of Belarusian Labor Day, but that the Coalition has not 
coordinated plans for this demonstration with representatives 
from rival opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin's camp. 
Deputy head of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party 
(Gramada) Anatoly Levkovich told Poloff on April 28 that 
Kozulin's leadership still has not received an answer from 
the GOB about whether Kozulin's party can hold a May 1 Labor 
Day demonstration at Bangalor Square.  Levkovich said, 
however, that the local authorities have denied the party's 
requests to hold Labor Day rallies in the regions.   Deputy 
head of Kozulin's presidential campaign team Alexei Korol 
told Poloff that Kozulin's party expects to receive an answer 
from the GOB sometime on April 29 as to whether and where it 
can hold its Labor Day demonstration. 
Krol