BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION MARKS 1937 MASS EXECUTIONS WITH MARCH TO SITE. Hundreds of opposition activists marched on October 28 through Minsk to the nearby Kurapaty forest to mark Dzyady, the day of ancestor remembrance, Belarusian media reported. The crowd, which according to Belapan grew to 1,500 in Kurapaty, included representatives of the Belarusian Popular Front, the Conservative Christian Party, as well as prominent opposition politicians. Kurapaty is widely believed to be the site of Stalin-era mass executions of Belarusian intelligentsia. The march was sanctioned by the authorities and its participants were accompanied by police vehicles and officers in plainclothes. However, the authorities denied permission for a meeting planned by the opposition for October 29 to commemorate victims of Stalin-era repression. The civic committee for commemorating victims of Stalin-era repression has declared 2007 a year of remembrance for victims and October 29 as a day of remembrance.
(Fonte Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty).
