Protests in Belarus: tens of thousands marched in solidarity with political prisoners

A March of Solidarity with Political Prisoners took place in Belarus. Thousands of protesters gathered in the center of Minsk at the obelisk “Minsk is a Hero City,” as well as in the central squares of other cities across the country. Writes about this with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

At least 100 protesters gathered in Minsk alone.

Demonstrations in Minsk and most other cities have ended. As a rule, after the end of the post-election demonstrations in Minsk, arrests of people began, but motorists prevented this by blocking the avenue along which the protesters were walking.

Nevertheless, 4 people were detained throughout Belarus on Sunday, October 170, according to human rights activists. Severe detentions took place in the Mikhalovo district of Minsk, in Grodno and other cities.

The police used force. In Grodno, a 13-year-old girl was detained along with her father, who said that security forces sprayed gas in her face. The district police department later stated that the gas hit the child in the face by accident, and it was used against her father. The police department added that the girl “began to pour a cola bottle on the police officer,” and her father was intoxicated and “behaved inappropriately.”

Standing on Akrestsin Street

A part of the column of protesters reached the pre-trial detention center on Akrestsin Street on Sunday evening. Earlier in the opposition telegram channels there was a plan of the march, the end point of which was the isolation ward.

Shortly after the protesters reached the detention center, several arrests took place. The exact number of those arrested was not reported.

Denis Kuznetsov, a participant of the rallies held in the Akrestsin prison, died in hospital from numerous injuries. He received fractures of the skull bones, extensive hematomas, open head injury, rib fractures, fracture of the right ilium and other injuries. Until the last moment, he was in intensive care unconscious.

The detainees held in the pre-trial detention center on Akrestsin Street, like in other detention centers in Minsk, reported torture and severe beatings.

“We came to the torture facility on Akrestsin Street to release those illegally detained. We demand the release of those arrested now,” the activists said.

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Some time later, the demonstrators moved away from the isolation cell and joined the main column.

At the same time, reports appeared on Belarusian telegram channels that the police were conducting “educational conversations” with people.

“In Gomel, two lieutenant colonels and a major come up to vacationers in the park and talk about how the protest is being blown away, convincing them that the protesters are in the minority. The conversation with one of the companies has already lasted about 10 minutes,” reports the TYT.by portal.

Pressure on journalists

There are reports of persecution of journalists from several Belarusian cities at once.

Nadezhda Puzhinskaya, head of the video department of the Strong News portal, was detained in Gomel. Also recently, the portal’s editor-in-chief Anna Yakshtas and her husband, correspondent Denis Yakshtas, were also detained.

A number of local and foreign media journalists are still in detention centers in Belarus. In Minsk, riot police officers in balaclavas came to the home of the photographer of the Belgazeta portal Daria Sapranetskaya. They did not say the reason for the visit, and the journalist did not open the door.

On Sunday, August 4, Sapranetskaya was detained while working at a protest rally together with Onliner portal journalist Alexander Vladyko. They were later released.

In Brest on Sunday, photojournalist of the Brest newspaper Oleg Polishchuk was detained again. In Grodno, journalists from the website TUT.BY Katerina Gordeeva and Olga Komyagina were detained. They were kept at the police department for three hours and then released. Gordeeva said that they also “had a conversation” with her.

In the evening, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported that 4 journalists were detained in the country on October 16. Some of them were released after the conversation, some are awaiting trial.

The situation in Minsk

Military equipment was pulled into the center of Minsk on the eve of the demonstrations. Eyewitnesses report that water cannons are being used against peaceful demonstrators.

According to unconfirmed reports, in Minsk, protesters managed to remove a canister with a coloring liquid from one of the water cannons (presumably, it should glow in the dark), after which the car went out of order. In some areas of the city, severe detentions are taking place.

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Mass arrests are also taking place in Bobruisk. The number of detainees throughout the country is currently in the tens.

Getting more detailed information from Belarus is complicated due to Internet restrictions. The Belarusian telecom operator A1 reported that the bandwidth of the mobile Internet in Minsk has been reduced at the request of government agencies.

Overcrowded prisons, thousands of fines

Another Sunday protest action in Belarus is dedicated to political prisoners.

According to the Belarusian human rights center "Viasna", their number in the country has increased 25 times over the past two months due to those detained during protests against fraud in the last presidential elections.

Human rights activists also report that the total amount of fines imposed on detainees by hastily conducted courts has reached $ 240.

“Arrests and repressions continue to this day. This week alone, about a dozen people were arrested, including award-winning basketball player Elena Levchenko, BSUIR student Dmitry Mazura, and political blogger Eduard Palchis. The authorities are holding these people hostage. In the hope that it will be possible, as before, to trade their freedom for negotiations with EU countries,” says the announcement of the march.

Solidarity actions with the Belarusian people are also held all over the world.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• In Belarus, on Sunday, August 9, the presidential elections were held, which were initially accompanied by mass protests of people who disagreed with the policies of the current president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been ruling the country for 26 years. After the announcement of the results protests erupted with renewed vigor, many disagree and doubt their veracity.
• Thousands of people gathered to protest against falsification of elections in Belarus. They are beaten and dispersed by the security forces. One person died... Svetlana Tihanovskaya left the country.
• On August 12, the European Union and the United States announced that the presidential elections in Belarus on August 9, in which the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, were neither free nor fair... The EU and the US plan to impose new sanctions against Minsk.
• August 12 police officers opened fire to kill the protesters.
• 12 August women in different cities of the country formed living chains and sang lullabies near the monuments. TV presenters were fired from state channels, and military personnel and police officers threw uniforms and insignia into garbage cans.
• How detained protesters are bullied in Belarus, read in our material.
• For those affected by the protests already raised over two million dollars... At the same time, the money is collected through the personal Facebook of the campaign organizer, and there will be no detailed reporting on payments. But this is the only working scheme for Belarus - otherwise the fundraisers may be jailed.
• August 16, Minsk hosted the largest political protest in the history of Belarus - hundreds of thousands of people came out under white-red-white flags. The “Freedom March”, as the opposition called its action, took place immediately after the rally in support of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
• On August 19, a coordinating council of the opposition, created by supporters of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for the transfer of power in the country, began work in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko called the creation of the council an attempt to seize power and threatened with harsh measures.
• September 23 Lukashenko held a secret inauguration and took office as President of Belarus.
• Both the US and the EU refused to consider Alexander Lukashenko the legally elected president Belarus

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'Self-inauguration operation': Lukashenko secretly took office as President of Belarus

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