A few days ago, the opposition in Belarus submitted a request to hold a large really. It was denied.

The Minsk city administration has rejected a request by opposition politician Andrey Klimaw to stage a downtown protest rally on 25 March, Belapan News reported on 22 March. Klimaw says he intended to assemble up to 100,000 people to protest Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s intention to run for a third presidential term. Klimaw told Belapan he is not surprised by the refusal, although the explanation baffles him. The city government told him that the location where he intended to hold the rally, Kastrychnitskaya Square, is not designed for events involving more than 1,000 people and that he had not produced a letter guaranteeing that he would pay for cleaning the square afterward. Klimaw said, “A revolution is historically unavoidable in Belarus. March 25 will mark the beginning of the fall of this government,” Belapan reported. RK

Hat tip to Roxborough’s Publius for the link, and I agree with his commentary. 100,000 is way too ambitious. But it looks like despite the denial, some oppositionists have rallied anyway.

MINSK. March 25 (Interfax-West) – Members of Belarussian opposition parties and movements and entrepreneurs have joined an unauthorized rally in downtown Minsk to show their support for previously arrested opposition activists and entrepreneurial movement leaders, an Interfax correspondent reported.

Minsk special-operations police force head Yury Podobed has estimated the number of people rallying on Minsk’s Oktyabrskaya square at from 300 to 400.

Also, if you’re interested, I have a recent post on the new face of the opposition, which I think has promising prospects for 2006.

OUCH: The protests have been violently dispersed.

Belarusian demonstrators tried to rally outside the office of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday to demand his ouster in a self-declared attempt to emulate a popular uprising in Kyrgyzstan, but they were beaten back by riot police swinging truncheons.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, harshly assailed the Kyrgyz opposition, warning that protests that drove longtime leader Askar Akayev from power this week could destabilize the entire region.

Lukashenko, who has largely retained the Soviet system and hasn’t changed the name of the KGB in his country of 10 million, has stifled dissent, persecuted independent media and opposition parties, and prolonged his power through elections that international organizations say were marred by fraud.

He also pushed through a referendum in October that will allow him to seek a third term in 2006 and run in subsequent elections.

Showing he will not tolerate demonstrations like those that drove the presidents of Georgia, Ukraine and now Kyrgyzstan from power, Lukashenko sent police into the streets Friday to disperse an estimated 1,000 protesters who chanted “Down with Lukashenko!” and “Long Live Belarus!”

Police chased demonstrators along the streets of the capital, beating some with the night sticks. Minsk police spokesman Oleg Slepchenko said 34 protesters were detained for participating in an unsanctioned rally.

Andrei Klimov, an opposition leader who organized the protests, said his goal was to help spark a revolution similar to those that have swept the other ex-Soviet republics.

“Today’s gathering must send a signal to the West, Russia and our own bureaucrats that Belarus is ready for a serious change,” Klimov said. “Our aim is to start the Belarusian revolution and force the resignation of Lukashenko, the last dictator of Europe.”

Friday’s protest was one of the biggest in the Belarusian capital in recent months.

“By using force, Lukashenko shows he’s terribly scared,” said Vyacheslav Sivchik, an opposition leader later detained by police for taking part in the demonstration.