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The Belarusian authorities are enormously hardening their tone against protesters who criticize the government: the Interior Ministry is now threatening the use of firearms.
The reason was an alleged radicalization of the mass protests against the head of state Alexander Lukashenko, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry in Minsk published on the Telegram messaging service and reported by the Reuters and AFP news agencies.
The security forces would not yield to protesters in the streets “and if necessary they would use special equipment and lethal weapons.”
570 protesters taken to prisons
More than 700 protesters were arrested over the weekend, the Interior Ministry announced. Only a few were released, 570 were taken to prisons, he said. According to the human rights group Wesna, there are also many journalists among those arrested.
The security forces had used explosion and stun grenades and tear gas in a massive demonstration of the democracy movement on Sunday and also used water cannons against the protesters. The footage showed police beating protesters with batons and chasing them. There were numerous injuries.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets again in protests across the country. However, the police repeatedly dispersed the protesters, making it difficult to determine the exact number of participants. The Interior Ministry spoke of only 11,000 participants in the entire country.
Since the controversial presidential elections in 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 outcome of the elections. The opposition sees civil rights activist Svetlana Tichanowskaya as the real winner of the vote. Also over the weekend, Lukashenko appeared ready to speak when visiting a prison.
