MINSK, 21 April (BelTA) – Senators approved the bill to amend the law on mass events in Belarus at a meeting of the fifth session of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus of the seventh convocation, BelTA has learned.
"Amendments to the law on mass events were dictated by time and law enforcement practice," Belarusian Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Kubrakov said. “The new bill scraps the notification-based procedure for organizing mass events when it was enough to notify the authorities. We have made changes. We suggest a mandatory application-based procedure. Why? The second half of 2020 showed that some individuals, namely the destructive forces, used this regulation to organize mass events. Crimes were committed during riots, including grave ones."
The minister stressed the bill drew on international experience, including that of the Russian Federation.
All mass events will be held solely on the basis of a permission of local authorities. Local executive and administrative bodies will have the right to determine a location for a mass event. It is forbidden to cover in the media, the Internet or other information networks in real time mass events held in violation of the established order, in order to popularize them or promote them. It is forbidden to cover mass events, which are improperly organized, in mass media, in the internet, and other information networks in real time for the sake of popularizing them.
The senators also approved the bill to amend the laws on national security of the Republic of Belarus. The document was also presented by Ivan Kubrakov.
