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There have been more than 30,000 arrests since the protests began more than four months ago.
Hundreds of people continued to protest against the ruler Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. On Sunday they released white and red balloons in the capital Minsk as a sign of their disgust. Others marched through residential areas with the opposition’s white, red and white flag, as images and videos showed on the Telegram news channel. Therefore, there were several arrests.
However, initially there was no massive intervention by masked security forces as in previous weeks. The opposition had called for the balloon campaign, also to avoid many arrests before the upcoming New Year celebrations. More than 30,000 people have been in police custody since the protests began more than four months ago. The democratic movement demands the resignation of Lukashenko, but also new elections and the release of all political prisoners.
The security forces were back in Minsk with a large contingent. The prison transporters had been seen in pictures. There were also sympathizers of the authoritarian head of state in the capital. They had greeted passing policemen, the independent news portal tut.by reported.
After the controversial presidential elections on August 9, after 26 years in power, Lukashenko, 66, was declared the winner again with 80.1 percent. The EU no longer recognizes him as president. Svetlana Tichanovskaya sees the democratic movement as the winner. He fled to the EU country Lithuania.
The opposition cited the lifting of the Minsk Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz’s entry ban as a sign of hope. Held church services in Minsk at Christmas. He had finally returned home, the head of Belarusian Catholics had written in a letter published Thursday. Pope Francis had advocated for his return to Lukashenko. The head of state himself said according to the state agency Belta that there were no political reasons for his decision.
(APA / DPA)
