Thousands of protesters rallied in Belarus capital and other cities, decrying an election they say was rigged to extend the 26-year rule of the country’s authoritarian leader and the crackdown on subsequent demonstrations.
Groups of hundreds of people formed human chains, motorists blared horns in support and, in some areas, slowed to a crawl to block police vehicles. On one avenue, people stood on balconies, clapping in an expression of support. Riot police fired rubber bullets at them.
Similar protests were held in at least five cities. Nearly 7,000 people have been detained and hundreds injured in the clampdown on demonstrators protesting the official results that said Lukashenko won 80% of the vote and his top opposition challenger got only 10%. Police have broken up protests with stun grenades, tear gas and severe beatings.
“Belarusians have seen the villainous face of this government. I argued with my husband and voted for Lukashenko. And this is what I got in the end — I can’t find my relatives in prisons,” said Valentina Chailytko, 49, whose husband and son were detained in protests Sunday. She has been unable to get any information on their whereabouts.
This year, the economic damage caused by the coronavirus and the president’s swaggering response to the pandemic, which he airily dismissed as “psychosis,” has fueled broad anger, helping swell the opposition ranks — but Lukashenko has dismissed them.
“The core of these so-called protesters are people with a criminal past and (those who are) currently unemployed,” Lukashenko said during a Wednesday meeting with security officials.
His top challenger, a 37-year-old former teacher and political novice Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, managed to unite fractured opposition groups and draw tens of thousands to her campaign rallies after two top potential challengers were barred from the race. She entered the race to replace her husband, an opposition blogger who aspired to run but has been in jail since his arrest in May.
Lukashenko has derided the political opposition as “sheep” manipulated by foreign masters and vowed to continue taking a tough position on protests.
The brutal suppression of protests drew harsh criticism in the West. European Union foreign ministers said they rejected the election results and tasked officials with drawing up a list of people in Belarus who could face sanctions over their role in the crackdown.
One protester died on August 9 in Minsk after, the Interior Ministry says, an explosive device he tried to throw at police blew up in his hand. Later it was established that this is protester Oleksandr Taraikovsky. Photo and video became incontrovertible evidence that Taraikovsky was shot at point-blank range by members of the special forces, while government media tried to portray the incident as something that happened due to the carelessness of a protester.
“He was very indignant at the illegal detentions and was proud of the people. He said — ‘Finally, finally!’ We discussed all the news every evening,” said Alexander Taraikovsky's life-partner Elena German.
“No matter how hard they try to put up some kind of barriers, turn off the Internet, disperse these rallies, we are not fools — everyone understands everything,” German said.
The 65-year-old Lukashenko has led the former Soviet state of 9.5 million people since 1994, relentlessly stifling dissent and winning the nickname “Europe’s last dictator” in the West. He has refused to rerun the election, which both the European Union and the United States have said was not free or fair.