Despite an enormous police and military presence, more than 100,000 people protested against ruler Alexander Lukashenko for the eleventh Sunday in a row in Belarus. People streamed from different directions over the prospectus of the winners to the “stele”, a place to commemorate the Second World War.
There is already no more space there, so the train is moving on, reported the opposition channel Strana dlja Schisni (in German: A land to live) in a live broadcast today. Individual journalists were arrested. There are no independent figures for the demonstration.
The military and police took up positions
State media do not show the pictures with the masses against Lukashenko. Hundreds of police and military had cordoned off the center of the capital Minsk. Armed uniformed men in balaclavas took position on the winner’s prospectus and the independence prospectus, among other things, to prevent the new Sunday demonstration. At first they did not intervene.
The authorities blocked all metro stations in the center to prevent people from gathering. They also switched off the high-speed mobile internet so that people could not meet to protest.
„Today is a special day,“ said civil rights activist Svetlana Tichanowskaja in her exile in the EU on a live broadcast. Your ultimatum to Lukashenko ends today. The democracy movement calls for an end to police violence, the release of all political prisoners and the resignation of Lukashenko and a new election. Although some members of the opposition have been released from prison, there is no more concession in sight.
