While fighting for his political survival, Alexander Lukashenko took a big gamble by cutting off the Internet in most of Belarus.
Belarussians trying to protest against his government are mostly burned out of the outside world: mobile internet is polluted and popular messaging apps are disabled, forcing protesters to find Wi-Fi connections and use VPNs as proxies to go online get and then share what news they can find.
The internet blackout, which Lukashenko hopes to stave off protests against him for mass voting rigging in last week’s presidential election, is a rare example in modern Europe of a country that voluntarily beats itself offline to support dissent .
The lack of internet has left Protestants in an information vacuum. Popular independent news websites, including Tut.By and Naviny, have been largely offline since election day and television news is dominated by the government.
“This prolonged internet blocking is unusual,” said Katsiaryna Shmatina, a political analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, noting that the internet has been blocked longer and more aggressively than in protests in previous years. On Tuesday, there were unconfirmed rumors that the country could cut telephone and internet traffic altogether.
With people unable to reach each other, protesters have largely relied on popular bloggers on Telegram channels, some anonymous and lying outside the country, who suggest sharing meeting points for demonstrations and sharing videos of protests and news to break, some of them not verified, which manages to filter through the blockade.
The largest is Nexta, which has more than 1,141,000 subscribers, and has been a key clearing house for videos from this week’s protests and for instructions to protesters. On Tuesday night, it told its readers to meet at 7pm in small groups of less than 20 and occupy the streets. “Paralyze the city!”
Staff and allies of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the opposition candidate for president who has said she will not recognize the results due to massive vote fraud, said the shutdown made it virtually impossible to coordinate action.
“They have done all this specifically so that people can not post and chat about what is happening in Belarus,” said Veronika Tsepkalo, an ally of Tikhanovskaya. During a trip to the city on Monday, she said, she could not reach Tikhanovskaya or Maria Kalesnikava. “There is no internet – you have to go through a VPN. Even the phones barely work. ”
The shutdown has disrupted normal businesses, from the booming IT sector in Belarus to tourism. A receptionist at one of the international chain hotels in Minsk laughed when he was asked if there was internet in the hotel. “No, there is no internet in the whole country,” she said.
According to Yana Goncharova of the Minsk-based Human Constanta NGO, the government introduced internet traffic as early as July, cutting off traffic to and from the country twice a night. Authorities were also targeting popular VPNs, she said, as well as the popular proxy service Psiphon.
The internet blackout was introduced at the level of Beltelecom, the national telecommunications company, and the National Center for Traffic Exchange, she said. Mobile operators have apologized for the delay in service, but said they were due to “reasons beyond our control”.
A source at one Belarusian mobile operator told the Guardian: “We are shocked by what is happening. It will continue until about August 14th. We’ve just been told this is what’s going on. ‘Lukashenko has blamed the outbursts on widespread denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks from abroad, without presenting evidence.
The blackout has left channels on Telegram, a messenger app that already has a Russian attempt to block it, as the main way for Protestants and the media to share information. Along with Nexta, which is based in Poland, are the Belamova channel, which has 340.00 subscribers, and the My Country Belarus channel.
The bloggers share photos and videos of protests, leak about voting-tampering of the elections, and help coordinate demonstrations, including by setting the times and places where protesters should meet. Readers can also submit their own videos – if they manage to get online.
“Until now, I would say that the main source of information, some of which is unconfirmed and sometimes unfair, are Telegram channels, such as Nexta, and then some major independent media outlets or TV channels such as Belsat – they also post on Telegram, ”said Shmatina.
In a Minsk apartment near a protest site on Monday night, protesters and journalists were huddled on the floor when police officers shone through the windows.
One protester opened Telegram and found a video intended to show Russian insurgent police entering the city. The video has since been falsely reviewed.
“That is it. Lukashenko made a deal with Putin and he sent him some help,” he said. “He has given up the country.”
“He does not like the country,” said another person. “But he will never share power with the Russians or with anyone else.”
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