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On Sunday afternoon there were new and important protests in Belarus against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, accused of manipulating the August 9 elections to achieve the sixth consecutive term, with which he intends to return to govern, after he has already been in power uninterruptedly since 1994. The protests, the largest of which took place in the capital Minsk, were comparable in magnitude to those of previous Sundays, the largest since the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union.
According to New York Times, Only in Minsk and only yesterday at least 100 thousand people protested. After heading towards the Plaza de la Independencia, where there was a large police presence, some protesters headed towards the Palace of Independence, one of the residences of Lukashenko, who turned 66 yesterday, and which was of different choirs and songs : always the New York Times wrote that the protesters used “harsh and angry humor, but practically no violence.” However, the building was protected by the police with riot gear and some military personnel.
When the protesters arrived in front of one of his residences, Lukashenko responded indirectly through a photo of him, published by a Russian news agency, in which he is seen outside that building holding a rifle.
Lukashenka was photographed at the residence with a machine gun in his hands https://t.co/qGVYj5r2lR pic.twitter.com/IGBh2osI75
– RIA Novosti (@rianru) August 30, 2020
According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, at least 140 people were arrested after yesterday’s protests. Journalist Steve Rosenberg, who is in Minsk for BBCHe said he noticed a significant increase in the number of police in the streets and greater effectiveness in blocking certain streets to prevent protesters from reaching certain places in the capital.
Also on Sunday, the Belarusian authorities withdrew the press accreditation of 17 journalists, most of them Belarusian citizens.
– Read also: The Telegram channel behind the protests in Belarus
In spite of everything, however, the New York Times wrote that “it is difficult to find a way to fire Lukashenko, who continues to accuse the West of fomenting protests in the country” and who continues to have the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who yesterday announced that he had called him birthday wishes and that she invited him to Moscow in the next few weeks.
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