After almost five months of protests in Belarus against the ruler Alexander Lukashenko, the leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya praised the courage of the people. Despite arrests and police violence, the protest has now become part of many people’s everyday lives, said the 38-year-old in her exile in the EU. „It will stay that way until victory,“ she said, referring to today’s „March of the Will“.
Despite the ban on demonstrations, many people initially gathered in their residential areas and then formed demonstration marches, as can be seen on various channels of the Telegram intelligence service. Again, uniformed men in balaclavas took violent action against the peaceful demonstrators. The Wesna Human Rights Center initially listed the names of more than 70 people arrested.
Resignation requested
As in the previous Sunday demonstrations, the people demanded Lukashenko’s resignation. Many carried the white, red and white flags of the opposition. Tichanovskaya, who had left for the neighboring EU country Lithuania under pressure from Lukashenko after the presidential election on August 9, said that much had been achieved.
There are EU sanctions and Lukashenko is no longer recognized by the West as president. Politically persecuted people could fall back on aid programs of the democracy movement. Above all, people would stand up for their rights together and would no longer bow to repression. „We have learned to be proud that we are Belarusians,“ she said. Every Sunday march is a new warning not to give up.
The 66-year-old Lukashenko is considered to be the “last dictator in Europe”. After the election he was declared the winner with 80.1 percent of the vote. The democracy movement sees Tichanovskaya as the winner. She agreed to temporarily lead the country after Lukashenko resigned. The movement also calls for an end to police violence and the release of all political prisoners. The protests have already resulted in several deaths, hundreds injured and around 30,000 arrests.
