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Tens of thousands, possibly even more than 100,000, protested against the ruler Alexander Lukashenko in the eighth major Sunday rally in Belarus. The influx of people in the largest and longest protests in the country’s history is uninterrupted, he said in the capital Minsk on Sunday. The demonstration had not been approved by the government.
Lukashenko’s power apparatus used soldiers and armored vehicles to deter the people. Water cannons were used in Minsk, authorities confirmed. To do this, uniformed men with ski masks and without identification carried out brutal actions against the protesters. At the beginning of the demonstration in the afternoon, there were numerous arrests, including of journalists.
The protest in Minsk was dedicated to the country’s political prisoners. The protesters, many of them waving a white flag with a red stripe, headed towards the detention centers where they believed political prisoners were being held. They asked the authorities to release the political prisoners. Similar actions were carried out in other cities of the country.
Civil rights activist Svetlana Tichanowskaja, who from the point of view of the democratic movement is the winner of the presidential elections on August 9, calls for more mass protests from her exile. Despite unprecedented pressure with arrests and a strong contingent of emergency services, the power apparatus cannot break the people’s desire for freedom, he said. At the same time, Tichanovskaya complained that there was another “victim of the regime” Lukashenko.
It was a 41-year-old man who died in prison, authorities confirmed. According to official information, he fell from a bunk and suffered fatal injuries. Tichanovskaya called this a “lie.” Doctors found a cracked skull with an open skull fracture, broken ribs and bruises, and other injuries to the man’s body, he said.
Since the controversial presidential elections in early August, people have regularly taken to the streets against Lukashenko. The 66-year-old had reportedly received 80.1 percent of the vote for a sixth term. The EU does not recognize the result of the election because apparently the election was faked.
The protests in recent weeks have left several dead, hundreds injured and more than 10,000 arrests. Human rights activists accuse the power apparatus of crimes against humanity.
