30 October 2007
Minsk office of Belarusian Popular Front to host anti-Communist forum

The Minsk office of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) will host an anti-Communist forum scheduled for November 3.

Attending the event, titled Toward Communism-Free Future, will be scholars, politicians, public figures, priests and delegates from Russia and Ukraine, Ales Mikhalevich, deputy chairman of the BPF, told BelaPAN.

The organizers include Mr. Mikhalevich, opposition politician Pavel Sevyarynets, as well as historian Ihar Kuznyatsow, an expert in Stalin’s purges. They initially expected up to 1,000 people to participate in the forum staged in protest against a large-scale meeting of Communists from 60 countries to be held in the Belarusian capital city in early November.

“The public strongly protest the expansion of Communist imperialism,” Mr. Mikhalevich said.

The administration of the Palace of Culture of the MAZ bus and truck manufacturer had refused to rent the venue out to the organizers of the anti-Communist forum, saying that a sporting event was scheduled to be held there on November 3.