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Protests and mass arrests continue in Belarus. Water cannons and military equipment were seen in Minsk in the morning. In Smolevichi, the security forces detained an entire class of schoolchildren returning from a graduation waltz rehearsal on the central street of the city.
On December 13, residents of Minsk and other Belarusian cities went to peaceful protests, people spontaneously gathered in columns. The portal TUT.BY reported on this.
According to journalists, on the 126th day of the protests, the miners gathered in their districts and walked in column. Water cannons were seen in Minsk in the morning.
In Smolevichi, the security forces detained eleventh-grade students from the local gym, who were returning from a graduation waltz rehearsal on the city’s central street. This was reported by Anna Sevyarynets, a former Smolevichi gym teacher on Facebook.
“The boys were put behind bars, the girls on the benches, they were taken to the police station, they ordered [стать] facing the wall. Thank goodness the woman from the police department was very surprised and asked, “Why did you bring your children here?” And they were released, “wrote the teacher.
Radio Svaboda reported on the arrest of the television channel Belsat Stas Ivashkevich.
Human Rights Center “Viasna” reported about more than 100 participants arrested from Sunday actions. Most of the arrests were carried out in Minsk, there are detainees in Brest, Smolevichi and Borovlyany.
Since August 9, massive protests by those who disagree with the voting results in the presidential elections have not stopped in Belarus. According to official data, they were won by Alexander Lukashenko, for whom 80.1% of voters voted (he has led the country since 1994). Second place with 10.1% of the vote was held by Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. At the same time, alternative exit polls showed the opposite picture: Tikhanovskaya’s confident victory.
The Belarusian security forces violently dispersed the rallies using grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons. During the protests, hundreds of protesters were injured and wounded. According to official figures, four protesters died. Tikhanovskaya stated on November 28 that eight people had died during protests in Belarus.
Lukashenka assumed the presidency on September 23. For the first time in the history of Belarus, the opening ceremony was not announced or broadcast on television. Several states, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, did not recognize Lukashenko’s inauguration.
On October 2, the European Union imposed restrictive measures against 40 people responsible for falsifying the results of the presidential elections and violent repression of peaceful protests. On November 6, the EU imposed sanctions against Lukashenko, who considers himself President of Belarus, and 14 other Belarusian officials. Ukraine joined the sanctions.
On November 19, the foreign ministers of the EU countries agreed to intensify work on the third package of sanctions against Belarus. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has said that sanctions will be imposed on natural and legal persons.
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