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In new massive protests in Belarus, at least 20,000 people gathered in the streets against the ruler Alexander Lukashenko. They moved in different groups through Minsk towards Kurapaty, a forest on the outskirts of the capital.
The security forces tried to stop the protesters on their way. Officials arrested more than 250 protesters, according to information from human rights activists. According to independent media reports, they also beat people lying on the ground. They also used smoke and flash grenades several times and repeatedly fired warning shots into the air, as a video from the independent website tut.by, recorded near Kurapaty, showed:
The protesters reacted to the warning shots at the beginning of the protest march with applause, shouting “Shame” and “Tribunal”, as the videos on Telegram channels showed.
People have been protesting for twelve weeks to increase pressure on Lukashenko. The main day of protest is Sunday. Last week, more than 100,000 people were on the streets of Minsk, according to some media about 150,000. The security forces threw flash grenades, smoke and noise at groups of protesters and fired rubber bullets. There were injured people. Hundreds of protesters were arrested and the Omon Special Police and internal forces officers were often brutal.
Lukashenko refuses to resign and cracks down on his critics. This week he closed his country’s border crossings with neighboring countries. The 66-year-old man had recently threatened protesters: “Enough is enough. We will not back down.”
Against Lukashenko’s “state terror”
The current march took place under the slogan “March Against Terror” and led to Kurapaty near Minsk. From 1937 onwards, tens of thousands of people were murdered there under the government of Joseph Stalin.
The opposition television station Belsat showed images of Lukashenko’s security forces using smoke and flash grenades and chasing protesters near Kurapaty. They went after them in minibuses and dozens of people were arrested.
Several thousand people came to Kurapaty, according to various media reports. Dzjady Memorial Day is celebrated in Belarus on Sunday, in which the dead are remembered. Presidential candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya said it was a peaceful action to “protest against state terror.”
The 38-year-old man had asked to participate in the protests. The opposition sees her as the true winner of the presidential elections. The Belarusian regime had put her under such pressure that she left the country. Tichanowskaja is now in neighboring Lithuania.
There have been protests in Belarus since the presidential elections on August 9. The country is going through a serious internal political crisis. According to official information, Lukashenko had received 80.1 percent of the votes and had been declared the winner again after 26 years in power. The opposition considers the elections to be a fake and, like the EU and other states, does not recognize the officially announced result.
Tichanovskaya recently called a general strike, which state workers only joined occasionally due to pressure from the regime. In addition, mainly students protest in various universities.
Subway stations blocked and mobile internet disrupted
Before the demonstration, the police and the military took up positions again on Sunday. Independent media published photos showing off-road vehicles with machine guns on the roof in Minsk. Many prisoner transporters and a large number of security forces were also on display. The democratic movement pointed out the peaceful nature of the protests.
As in recent weeks, security forces cordoned off several central locations. Several subway stations were closed so that people could not easily reach the protests. Also, the mobile internet didn’t work at times. The authorities want to make communication between the protesters difficult.
