by Rex Wockner
City officials in Minsk, Belarus, banned a planned gay demonstration at the Russian Embassy, Gay.ru reported Oct. 27.
The group BelQueer hoped to protest the "growing number of cases of violation of the rights of LGBT people" in Russia, including "groundless" police raids on gay clubs, "mass detentions," "insults to gays and lesbians, and the official ban (on) the international gay cinema festival … in St. Petersburg."
In a letter to organizers, Minsk City Council Deputy Chairman Mikhail Titenkov reportedly said, "The City Council did not permit a picket in front of the Russian Embassy in Minsk because the application had been done not within the framework of the national law 'On Mass Events.'"
