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Attempts and failures to obtain permission for demonstration in Homyel have become vicious circle, opposition activist says

Attempts to obtain permission for a demonstration in Homyel and the city government's refusals have turned into a vicious circle, Uladzimir Syakerka, chairman of regional organization of the Spravedlivy Mir (Just World) Belarusian Party of the Left, told BelaPAN.

Under the Homyel City Executive Committee's directive, applications for permission to demonstrate in the city of 515,000 residents may be granted only if the applicants first conclude contracts that would ensure the presence of ambulances and police at the venues of the demonstration and a cleanup at the sites after the event. However, the police say that they will not sign any contracts until the city government permits the demonstration.

"Before applying for permission to stage a May Day rally on May 1, we tried to conclude contracts with the district police station and a local hospital," Mr. Syakerka said. "However, the police and the hospital refused to have any dealings with us until our application was granted. Predictably, the city government rejected our application because we had not signed the contracts."

According to Mr. Syakerka, he and other opposition activists will soon lodge a complaint with the city government, asking it to either abolish its controversial directive or explain how its requirements can be met.

Last month, a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) reported that a similar directive by the authorities of Vitsyebsk have made it impossible to obtain permission to stage a demonstration in the city of some 370,000 people.

In the summer of 2012, the Homyel authorities banned the Spravedlivy Mir party's rally because the chief doctor of a local hospital had refused to deploy an ambulance at the venue, allegedly, because there were no spare ambulances. All appeals against the ban were rejected.

Human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka told BelaPAN that the ban would be appealed to the UN Human Rights Committee.