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The Belarusian authorities are trying to support and protect the churches, despite the fact that, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, they carry out anti-state propaganda.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the churches carried out “anti-Lukashenka propaganda”. He also pledged not to close churches in the country, the state agency BelTA reported.
“Look, we did not close the churches, even if they made anti-Lukashenka, anti-state propaganda. We did not close them, on the contrary, we are trying to support, protect. They saw it in the square (We are talking about the Plaza de la Independencia, where in the Red Church on August 26, during the protests, about 100 people were hiding from the security forces.. – “GORDON”). It is true that the forgery was arranged so that we were not allowed to enter the church there, “said Lukashenka.
According to him, the churches have worked and will continue to work in Belarus.
He also assured that “no state race against the Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish Church will ever be allowed.”
“Because this is our pride: the denominational world, the national world. We have always been proud of this and we will be proud of it,” said the President of Belarus.
During the August 26 protests in Independence Square, the security forces blocked about 100 people in front of the doors of the Red Church. People were locked in the church for more than 40 minutes. The Vicar General of the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese, Bishop Yuri Kosobudsky, protested the actions of the security forces.
Mass protests have been going on in Belarus since August 9. The protesters believe that the results of the presidential elections, which were held from August 4-9, were falsified. According to official data, Lukashenka won with 80.1% of the voters. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came in second with 10.1% of the vote. The rest of the candidates earned less than 2%. At the same time, alternative exit polls showed the opposite picture: Tikhanovskaya’s confident victory.
The Belarusian security forces violently dispersed the demonstrations, in particular with the use of stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons. During the protests, more than 7,000 protesters were arrested (many of them have already been released), hundreds were injured and wounded. According to official figures, four protesters died.
Mass protests took place in Minsk and other cities in Belarus on August 30. In the capital, protesters approached the Independence Palace to congratulate Lukashenka on his 66th birthday. The protesters brought “gifts” to the president, including a black coffin with crowns and a cardboard cockroach. In the morning, the security forces brought military equipment to the capital.
173 people were arrested in protests in Belarus on August 30. According to human rights activists, the detainees included minors and a Russian citizen.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on behalf of the European Union, said on August 11 that the elections in Belarus “were neither free nor fair”, and that the authorities used “a disproportionate and unacceptable violence “against protesters.
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