Opposition protests in Belarus: hundreds arrested, some with fever

Belarusian human rights activists report that on the eve and after Victory Day, authorities detained more than 100 opposition bloggers, journalists and subscribers to channels critical of the authorities. The detainees took part in online streams that talked about the situation in the regions of the country. Writes about it with the BBC.

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One of the detainees, the blogger Sergei Petrukhin, was sent to the cell for 15 days without waiting for the ambulance called to court.

On May 11, the Leninsky district court of the city of Brest, located near the western border of Belarus, appointed Petrukhin an administrative arrest for the stream from the April action of opponents of the construction of a battery plant near the regional center. Petrukhin was charged with violating the organization and conduct of public events.

At the court hearing, it turned out that the blogger had a high temperature - 37,7. During a break in the trial, Petrukhin told journalists and human rights activists that there were other people with elevated temperatures in the temporary detention center with him, and an ambulance team arrived at the detention center.

Petrukhin himself and his lawyer asked the court to call an ambulance. The judge instructed the secretary to do this, but while people removed from the courtroom went to meet the doctors, the blogger was taken through the service entrance to the isolation ward, reports the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

Petrukhin's acquaintances say that he has symptoms of a coronavirus, but they did not do tests for Covid-19.

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According to the Ministry of Health, in Belarus on May 11, 23 people were identified with a positive test for Covid-906. Over the past day, 19 new cases have been recorded. Authorities do not publish statistics on cities and regions of the country.

Detention in the regions

Sergei Petrukhin was detained 350 kilometers from his native Brest, in the Minsk region - he was trying to get to a meeting with another blogger, Sergei Tikhanovsky, who has recently become popular as an organizer of streams with critical statements about the policies of Alexander Lukashenko and life in the country.

Tikhanovsky conducted streams in the regions, traveling along not the most important roads in a motorhome with the inscription “Country for Living.”

The slogan “Belarus is a country to live in” was actively used in social advertising by Belarusian television, but the conversations of blogger Tikhanovsky with residents of small towns clearly contradicted the pathos of official propaganda.

“The state is dissatisfied with the people, the people are dissatisfied with the state. We need to change this. I don’t want to reinvent any Belarusian bicycle. I just want to live a normal life. Like in Poland, like in Germany, like in Finland. So that I won’t be ashamed to say that I am a Belarusian,” said a Tikhanovsky supporter who called himself Mikhail at a rally in Gomel.

People in Belarus, as a rule, do not give their names, fearing reprisals from the authorities.

Sergei Tikhanovsky’s YouTube channel began working a year ago, some of the videos posted on it collect more than 140 thousand views. Through the mouths of local residents, the blogger talks about why many find it problematic and uncomfortable to live in a “country to live in.”

Tikhanovsky was detained on May 6 near Mogilev, in the southeast of Belarus. The blogger’s team was tried to be taken into custody during a meeting with subscribers to his channel, but then the spectators physically interrupted the police officers.

Demanding the release of Tikhanovsky, in different regions of Belarus they took to improvised actions and were detained by his fellow bloggers, viewers of the YouTube channel and journalists covering the spontaneous protests.

In Bobruisk, supporters of Tikhanovsky were detained who were trying to organize an “anti-parade” on May 9, when Minsk officially celebrated Victory Day with mass events.

According to information from the Viasna human rights center, which has been deregistered in Belarus, more than 100 people have been detained in different regions of Belarus. This information is confirmed by the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the local press.

Among the detainees are freelance journalist Dmitry Lupach from the town of Glubokoe; journalists Alexander Burakov, Ales Osiptsov, blogger Mikhail Arshinsky. In Grodno, director Vasily Kalach was detained for a meeting with blogger Tikhanovsky; in the Postavy district, 49-year-old Andrei Novikov, a former employee of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, a pensioner who returned to his homeland, will go on trial for participating in the stream.

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Journalist Dmitry Lupach ended up in intensive care with a hypertensive crisis after the trial. The court sentenced him to 10 days of arrest and a fine of 1215 rubles (about $600). After the court hearing, Lupach was taken away by an ambulance, accompanied by police.

Trials of activists, human rights defenders, journalists and participants in meetings of the Country for Life channel on May 11 took place in 12 cities of Belarus.

The protest activity of subscribers and supporters of regional critical bloggers turned out to be unexpected both for the authorities and for opposition Belarusian parties and structures.

“Belarusian News” analyst Alexander Klaskovsky called these activists “jacks in the box.”

“The authorities have long learned to fight the traditional opposition. Tikhanovsky has a completely different style, format, different slogans. This is live dialogue and feedback, this is the language of the street. His spontaneous meetings apparently remind the leaders of the phenomenon of “parasite” protests in 2017. That’s why the authorities are in a hurry to screw those who hang out with the blogger before the spark ignites a flame,” notes Klaskovsky.

Sergei Tikhanovsky announced his intention to participate in the nomination of the President of Belarus.

But while under arrest, the author of the YouTube channel “Country for Life” risks not registering an initiative group to collect signatures in his support.

The start of the presidential campaign was given on the eve of Victory Day, and the elections themselves were scheduled for August 9. Submit documents to the Central Election Commission for registration of the initiative group to collect signatures for the nomination of candidates by May 15.

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