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- Tens of thousands of people in Belarus demonstrated against Head of State Alexander Lukashenko, overshadowed by massive new police violence.
- Right at the beginning of Sunday’s protests, security forces beat peaceful people in the capital Minsk and put them in minibuses.
- The opposition had called for a “Pride March”. Before the protests, President Lukashenko met with members of the opposition in prison.
These are photographs from Minsk reminiscent of police violence at the beginning of the protests two months ago. Observers spoke of violent clashes between police and protesters in weeks. Images and videos on the Telegram news channel showed injured protesters sitting on the street with bandages around their heads. Others lay pinned to the ground by masked security forces.
Some of the uniformed forces acted brutally against the peaceful protesters.
Keystone
In light of the rain, the observers assumed slightly fewer participants on Sunday than the Sunday before. More than 100,000 people participated in each of the campaigns. The security forces again used water cannons against the crowd; Flash and blast grenades also flew.
The Wesna Human Rights Center spoke of about 150 people detained in the afternoon. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, among them were more than 20 media representatives.
Barricades and no internet
The Belarusian media wrote that many journalists were in police custody during the protests. According to official reports, his documents must be reviewed. Therefore, the authoritarian leadership in Minsk further restricted information about the protests. The authorities have already withdrawn the accreditation of all foreign correspondents. Applications with work samples must now be submitted for a new permit.
It was also said on social media that the mobile Internet had temporarily been disconnected again. The authorities wanted to prevent protesters from accepting protest routes. In addition, several metro stations in Minsk were closed so that people could no longer reach the center. A central intersection was also cordoned off. There were prisoner transports waiting by the roadside, but also military vehicles.
Prison talks confirmed
Already on Saturday, the women had walked through Minsk and other Belarusian cities in small groups with flowers in hand. At the same time, it emerged that Lukashenko had surprisingly met with several opposition prisoners and members of the coordinating council.
The conversation in the preventive prison of the KGB secret service lasted four and a half hours, reported the Telegram channel “Pul Pervogo”, close to state television. Opposition officials criticized that it was absurd to hold a round table in prison.
