The World - News from Feb. 22, 1989

Thirty thousand people packed a stadium in Minsk, capital of the Soviet Byelorussian republic, in a public gathering of informal political groups, many of which were earlier suppressed, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported. The gathering was sponsored by the local government. Tass said participants were given the chance to speak on democratization of the political system, ecology, economic reform and cultural development. After several hours, they adopted a series of resolutions, including one demanding an end to nuclear-power plant construction in Byelorussia, which was contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.