BELARUSIAN STUDENTS PROTEST NEW NATIONAL SYMBOLS.

300students marched in Minsk May 24 to protest the restoration of Soviet-erasymbols in Belarus; Minsk radio reported. Some of the students were beatenwith truncheons by the police, and 29 were detained by the authorities. Severalof the students shredded the Soviet-era flag that Belarusian presidentAleksandr Lukashenko had raised at his office, but officials said that it was “notclear” yet which flag was in fact the official one–the referendum did notdetermine that–and so they could not say what the demonstrators might becharged with. Meanwhile, the Moscow paper Segodnya complained May 24that Minsk newspapers were ignoring Russian efforts to promote integrationbetween Russia and Belarus.

Moldova Adopts PFP Cooperation Plan.