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The demonstration, called the “March of Heroes,” is one of the largest to date during the protests in Belarus. The calculation of the number of protesters is carried out by the Reuters news agency.
But the protests have been met with brutal police intervention.
“About 250 people have been detained in various parts of the city,” the Belarusian Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that in many cases those arrested carried “outrageous” flags and posters.
Witnesses and a correspondent for the AFP news agency at the scene say the protesters were arrested by masked security personnel, some in uniform but without insignia and others in plain clothes. The videos show that many of those deprived of liberty are pushed and beaten.
The protesters responded with banners reading “Cowards wear masks.”
The network is partially off
The metro stations located in the center have been closed. Witnesses also say that barbed wire fences have been deployed and that both police buses and military vehicles have been parked near the protests.
In a statement from mobile operator A1, one of Belarus’ three mobile network companies, Internet traffic was restricted on Sunday.
“According to a government decree, capacity was reduced in Minsk on September 13,” the company writes according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
The latest manifestation of a series of dissatisfaction with the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko that has been going on for 26 years. The protests take place ahead of planned talks between Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russian leader’s summer residence in Sochi on Monday.
President really weakened
The question in Sochi will be whether Lukashenko, severely weakened by the protests, has the continued confidence of the Kremlin. The Kremlin has said that the meeting is a pure working meeting where cooperation between the two countries will be discussed.
But the Belarus-Russian partnership is of crucial strategic importance for Moscow. Lukashenko’s political fate may be determined by the decision of the Russian president and not by the protesters in Minsk.
The main popular protests have taken place in Belarus since the presidential election on August 9, when Lukashenko declared himself the winner with 80 percent voter support. However, the result is strongly questioned, since it is generally considered the product of electoral fraud.
The EU and several Western countries have announced that they do not accept the result of the elections.
A protester was arrested in connection with Sunday’s protests in Minsk, Belarus. Image: TUT.by via AP / TT
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