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The same procedure every week in Belarus: the government threatens, the protesters come anyway. Today there were again tens of thousands. the police resorted to harsh means.
This time, too, aggressive threats from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko did not work: tens of thousands of people gathered again in Minsk. They marched through the capital in large groups, as photos and videos from the Telegram news channel showed. One of the groups met at the Kuropaty Memorial on the outskirts, where victims of political repression in the Soviet Union are remembered. The protesters carried banners reading “Stop torturing our people!” Addressed to Lukashenko, they shouted in chants: “Get out!”
Shortly after the protests began, security forces fired warning shots into the air. Officials say the weapons were not lethal. Flash and noise grenades are also said to have been reused. Uniformed men with assault rifles were seen in the streets.
More than 240 arrests
Like every week, the central squares of Minsk were cordoned off. Subway stations were closed to prevent people from attending the protests. The mobile internet also didn’t work at times. Authorities are trying to make it difficult for the protesters to communicate.
Numerous people were arrested again, some of them violently according to media reports. The human rights organization Wesna spoke of more than 240 arrests overnight, including journalists. There are no independent figures. However, there were far fewer protesters than last Sunday.
“Peaceful Against State Terror”
The protests have been going on for twelve weeks. The trigger was the presidential elections on August 9, in which Lukashenko was declared the winner with 80.1 percent. The opposition believes that civil rights activist Svetlana Tichanovskaya was the real winner of the elections. Since then he has fled into exile in the EU. Even before the current protests, Tichanovskaya spoke out and called for participation in the “March Against Terror”. It is about “protesting peacefully against state terror,” the 38-year-old said.
Pressure and back pressure
Lukashenko announced an offensive against protesters on Friday. Those who raise their hands against police officers should “at least lose their hands.” He warned from the outset that red lines should not be crossed, the Belarusian president said.
But not only is the government taking a sharper tone, the democracy movement is also expanding its protests. Hundreds of women had already passed through the capital yesterday. According to Wesna, there were also arrests. In recent days there have also been isolated work stoppages in companies. There were also many campaigns in the universities. As a result, quite a few students were dropped.
