Moscow – Anti-government protests in the Belarusian capital on Monday continued for the 128th day. Protesters calling for the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko have been in large numbers, with tens of thousands in the last few months, although hundreds have been detained for doing the same thing a few hours ago.
Mass demonstrations on Sunday have become the mainstay of Belarus’ complex pro-democracy movement. Every week, despite the extreme heat, they continue to gather to denounce the country’s longtime dictator, who claimed his sixth term in office after claiming victory in the controversial August presidential election. Every week, hundreds of people are arrested for doing so.
Many in Belarus and around the world have denounced the summer election as fraudulent, and believe it to be Lukashenko’s main rival. Svetlana Dikanovskaya, Who actually won the majority of the vote.
Thousands are believed to have come out again last Sunday, but in an attempt to complicate the security forces’ efforts to silence them, they have tried a new tactic. Instead of a large rally in the center of Minsk, small protests were dispersed in dozens of places around the capital.
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They marched mainly in residential areas, carrying red and white flags as a sign of protest, chanting anti-Lukashenko slogans and chanting “Long live Belarus.”
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Sunday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck, and at least two Belarusian journalists were among those detained.
The Minsk-based Vienna Human Rights Center says more than 30,000 people have been detained and thousands arrested since the protests first erupted in August. Was brutally beaten In custody. At least four People are said to be dead.
Small-scale demonstrations continued Monday afternoon, including a “parade of retirees” in the city of Minsk. The Belarusian online news agency Tut.by quoted human rights activists as saying that 70 or 80 of the protesters were surrounded by security forces and stopped at buses. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
Belarusian exiled opposition leader Dikanovskaya was in Berlin, meanwhile, to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Dikanovskaya, along with several opposition parties, fled his country to Lithuania after the election. He called on the West to put pressure on Lukashenko’s regime and end his 26 – year rule.
In an interview with the German newspaper Sdeddeutsche Zeitung, Dikanovskaya said she expected Lukashenko to be ousted from power in the spring, but she was not under the illusion that it would be easy.
“We are still in the first stage – pressure from the inside and pressure from the outside. It would be naive to believe that Lukashenko is leaving,” he was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday he will receive the prestigious Sakharov Human Rights Prize of the European Parliament.
Following controversial elections and violent attacks by security forces against protesters, the European Union imposed travel bans and froze the assets of nearly 50 Belarusian officials.
Lukashenko, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaled weeks ago that he planned to draft a new constitution, but gave no indication that he might step down. He says the protests were planned by foreign powers.