The Belarusian authorities announced on Wednesday the death of a protester arrested during a rally against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, the second death recorded since the start of this violently repressed protest movement.
During the previous three nights of protests, security forces arrested some 6,000 people across the country, without it being known how many are still being held. Since Sunday evening, police have been using stun grenades and rubber bullets against protesters and at least 250 injured have been admitted to hospital. Internet access has also been severely disrupted.
A very strong police repression
The Investigation Committee, a powerful investigative body, said a 25-year-old man died in a hospital in Gomel (south) after being arrested on Sunday during an "unauthorized demonstration". According to this source, which does not specify the exact date of death, his health "suddenly deteriorated" while he was in detention.
The clashes also left one dead in Minsk and the police said they opened fire with live ammunition in Brest (southwest), injuring one. In the center of the capital, the metro stations were closed this Wednesday evening and traffic completely banned. Numerous police officers were also deployed in several main streets.
Near the Ouroutché station, northeast of Minsk, demonstrators who formed a human chain were dispersed and beaten by police, amid screams, according to an AFP journalist. Dozens of women have also formed human chains in other parts of the capital to denounce the police crackdown on protests against the August 9 re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, in power for 26 years.
"You are also someone's son!" "Proclaimed placards carried by about fifty demonstrators, dressed in white, in Surganov Street, a usually very busy artery of the capital, this evening almost empty.
A repression strongly denounced internationally
Neighbors of Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, presented Wednesday a plan providing for the creation of a "national council" bringing together representatives of the Belarusian government and civil society, under penalty of sanctions from Brussels.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "very great concern" to him. US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, German Chancellery Angela Merkel and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also denounced the crackdown.
The Belarusian Ministry of the Interior estimated that the mobilization of demonstrators was now down.
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- Alexander Lukashenko
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