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Head of State Lukashenko threatens, but protesters cannot be stopped. Tens of thousands are again protesting against the government in Minsk. There were also protests in other parts of Belarus.
For four weeks there have been repeated large-scale demonstrations against President Lukashenko in Belarus. Even today, tens of thousands took to the streets in the capital, Minsk, despite the government’s warnings. The security forces blocked the streets with a large contingent. The Independence Square in the center of Minsk was also cordoned off again. According to local media reports, numerous armored vehicles and water cannons are on the way. Several people were arrested. The Interior Ministry had previously warned against following the opposition’s call and participating in the demonstration.
“Remember, together we are strong”
Protests also broke out in other cities around the country. Video recordings on social media show uniformed men assaulting a group of protesters in Grodno, on the border with Poland, and driving people away. Opposition channels of the Telegram messaging service report that tear gas was also used.
Opposition politicians Svetlana Tichanovskaya yesterday asked the people of Belarus from exile to participate in today’s “March of Unity”. “Remember, together we are strong,” he said in a YouTube video. She stressed that it is imperative that the people continue their peaceful demonstrations. This is the only way to guarantee that political prisoners are also released. The opposition will go its way and insist on a dialogue with Lukashenko, Tichanovskaya said.
More opposition members are leaving the country
Meanwhile, the Belarusian opposition policy Olga Kowalkowa also left the country and emigrated to Poland. Speaking to reporters yesterday in Warsaw, she said that after her arrest last week she had been threatened by Belarusian security forces and then taken to the border with Poland.
Kowalkowa is part of the electoral campaign team of opposition leader Svetlana Tichanowskaya, who fled to Lithuania, and of the coordination council founded by the opposition that wants to achieve a change of power in Belarus after the controversial presidential elections. Kowalkowa was arrested last Tuesday.
Departure is not voluntary
On Saturday he gave a press conference in Warsaw together with Michal Dworczyk, chief of staff of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. According to the online portal tut.by, Kowalkowa reported that the Belarusian authorities had pressured her to leave. They gave him the option of leaving the country or staying in prison for a long time. “Now I am free, but outside of Belarus,” he said, according to the Polish agency PAP. She wants to go back to Minsk.
