English

Conservative Christian Party allowed to stage commemorative march to another Stalin-era massacre site

The Minsk City Executive Committee has permitted the Conservative Christian Party (CCP) to stage a commemorative march to Loshytsa Park, a Stalin-era massacre site, on Sunday, November 4, on the occasion of Dzyady (Remembrance of Ancestors Day).

As CCP Deputy Chairman Yury Belenki told BelaPAN, participants will gather in front of the Loshytski Palace of Culture between noon and 12:30 p.m. and march along Mayakowski Street toward the park, where a rally will be held between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

"Officials did not warn us against violating the Mass Events Law," Mr. Belenki said. "They simply expressed hope that we would abide be regulations."

Some 500 people took part in a CCP-organized commemorative march to Kurapaty, a woody area just outside Minsk, on October 28.

Up to 200,000 people are believed to have been executed and buried by the NKVD in Kurapaty in the late 1930s and the beginning of 1940s. //BelaPAN