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Protesters with red and white flags and banners were greeted by riot police, water cannons and reinforced anti-riot picket buses. Police and security forces have cordoned off parts of Minsk. The BBC reports on the injuries. Various news agencies estimate that 100,000 people participated in the protest in Minsk. Critical protests also took place in other cities.
Protesters in Minsk.
Photo: AP
Protester Ludmila in Minsk tells the BBC that she is not being provoked by the security forces.
– We definitely do not intend to return. to the lives we have lived for so many years, he tells the BBC.
– Finally, we feel we have a role after living in apathy for too long. Personally, I feel like the time for change has begun, so it’s definitely not the time to give up, says Ludmila.
– Lukashenko must go. Why is our legitimately elected president in another country? Protester Nikolai Djatlov told AFP.
It refers to the leader of the opposition. Svjatlana Tsichanouskaja, who went into exile in neighboring Lithuania after the disputed August elections.
On Saturday, Belarusian opposition activist Olga Kovalkova, who was arrested in August on charges of trying to organize a protest critical of the regime, also left the country after being threatened by authorities. Then she arrived in the Polish capital, Warsaw.
“Representatives of the militia and the Belarusian Ministry of the Interior approached me and told me that if I did not agree to leave, I would be detained for a long time, there would be endless new arrests,” she told a news conference on Saturday night.
Kovalkova Next week he will be accompanied by opposition leader Tsichanouskaja, who during his visit to Poland will meet, among other things, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
On Friday, Tsichanouskaja called on the UN Security Council to condemn the events in Belarus. In her speech, Tsichanouskaja said that she wanted the UN to send special observers to Belarus. She asks the UN Human Rights Commission to hold a special meeting on events in the country.
Elections in Belarus on August 9 where President Alexander Lukashenko has declared himself the winner with 80 percent of the vote, it has sparked widespread protests with accusations that the election was rigged.
The Opposition Council was formed the week after the elections with the objective of negotiating with the authorities. President Lukashenko denies electoral fraud and accuses the council of trying to seize power.
