The protest against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko continues to be violently repressed in Belarus. While two deaths are already to be deplored, some 700 demonstrators were still arrested on Wednesday, on the occasion of a fourth day of protest.
New actions were organized, however, Thursday, to denounce the victory, deemed fraudulent, of the strong man of Belarus, in power for twenty-six years, and credited with 80% of the votes. Celebrities have also started to take a stand against the crackdown. For his supporters, it was a political novice, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who won, after a campaign that aroused a fervor never seen in the former Soviet republic.
6,700 demonstrators arrested
The Belarusian Interior Ministry announced on its Telegram account the arrest of another 700 protesters across the country on Wednesday, bringing the total to more than 6,700 since Sunday evening. He estimated that the protest was weakening "but the level of aggression towards the police remains high", noting that 103 police officers had been injured, 28 of whom are hospitalized.
No detailed report has been published concerning the demonstrators, against whom rubber bullets, batons and sound grenades are used without restraint.
On Wednesday evening, the Belarusian authorities also confirmed the death of a person in detention, arrested during the protest, a death which adds to that of a protester on Monday. They also acknowledged an incident in which live bullets were fired on Tuesday, injuring a person in Brest.
The United States and the EU denounced electoral fraud and repression, with Europeans threatening Minsk with sanctions. Neighboring Ukraine, for its part, called on its nationals to avoid going to Belarus, and demanded the “immediate” release of two imprisoned Ukrainian human rights defenders.
White human chains
Thursday morning, in several cities of the country and in particular in Minsk, dozens of people went out for the second consecutive day in dispersed order to constitute ephemeral peaceful human chains, flowers in hand, a form of protest which was less violently suppressed than the nocturnal manifestations.
These chains are mainly made up of women, most often dressed in white. Local celebrities have in recent days increased criticism of the authorities. Quadruple Olympic biathlon champion Darya Domracheva spoke on her Instagram account to "leaders of riot forces: STOP THE VIOLENCE!" Do not allow the horror to continue in the streets ”. She later posted a second message calling on "both sides" to calm down.
Several journalists and state media presenters have also announced their resignations in recent days, including Tatiana Borodkina, from STV, who presented an entertainment program with her daughters. "I am not afraid and do not be afraid, do not deprive our children of their future," Tatiana Borodkina wrote on Tuesday afternoon on her Facebook page.
Writer Svetlana Alexievitch, the only Belarusian to be honored with a Nobel Prize, accused President Alexander Loukachenko on Wednesday of leading his country towards "civil war".
Trash in the trash
Despite repeated cuts to the Internet, retired or active military and police have also anonymously denounced the crackdown. In widely distributed videos, they throw stripes, uniforms and unit badges in the trash. According to testimonies on social networks, dozens of protesters arrested in recent days were released overnight or at dawn.
Authorities have not indicated how many people remain in detention to this day across the country. Opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa has not spoken since her video Tuesday announcing her hasty departure for Lithuania on Tuesday. According to her supporters, she suffered threats when she was held for hours by security forces on Monday. Alexander Lukashenko, 65, has never let any opposition take hold. The previous great wave of protest, in 2010, had also been severely repressed.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a 37-year-old political novice, mobilized tens of thousands of people in a few weeks, unheard of in this country. The stay-at-home mom replaced her husband Sergei, a prominent video blogger, after her arrest in May as he was growing in popularity.
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- Alexander Lukashenko
- Repression
- World
- Minsk
- Belarus