Kiev, Ukraine – More than 100,000 more people demonstrated in the Belarusian capital on Sunday to protest against the country’s authoritarian leader, who won his sixth term in an election widely regarded as manipulated.
Protesters demanded the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and the release of political prisoners. Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd, but protesters were discouraged.
A video of the demonstration showed an organization of protesters coming in a vehicle with a water cannon, opening a hatch on the side and inspection pieces of the vehicle. The media reports that the water cannon malfunctioned after that and left.
The Human Rights Centre in Viasna said some 120,000 more people took part in a demonstration on Sunday.
Mass protests have rocked Belarus for nearly two months, and larger demonstrations take place on Sundays and attract up to 200,000 people. iron fist for 26 years, a crushing victory with 80% of the vote.
Its main rival, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, received only 10%. She and her supporters refused to recognize the effects as valid, saying that the outcome of the vote had been manipulated.
In the first few days after the vote, the Belarusian government seriously suppressed the protesters, and police arrested thousands and wounded dozens of others with batons, rubber bullets and deafening grenades.
Since then, the government has reduced violence, but has kept the pressure on, arresting many protesters and prosecuting high-level activists. Many prominent members of the Coordination Council, formed through opposition to drive a power transition, have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
More than 10,000 people have been arrested since the election and at least 244 others have been involved in crime cases for similar rates to the protests, Viasna Human Rights Center Director Ales Bialiatski told The Associated Press. people have been declared political prey.
Dozens of others were arrested in Minsk and other cities on Sunday. Viasna published a list of protesters arrested on its website, which on Sunday night had more than 160 names.
“An unprecedented crusade of intimidation and persecution for Europe has been introduced to Belarus opposed to nonviolent citizens who need one thing: free elections,” Bialiatski said.
According to the Belarusian Journalists Association, 11 Belarusian hounds were arrested in several cities on Sunday. Last week, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs cancelled the accreditation of all hounds running for foreign media and said they had to apply for new degrees.
Tsikhanouskaya, who entered the presidential race to run for the post of her husband Siarhei, a popular opposition blogger imprisoned in May, on Sunday issued support for the demonstration and it was not easy to release political prisoners.
She herself was forced to leave Belarus out of concern for her protection and that of her children and has recently been in exile in Lithuania.
“These are other people who, like Siarhei Tsikhanouski, have not noticed their families and young people for several months. These are the other people who have suffered because of their convictions and who are still suffering. Our purpose is to lose them. So I all take the streets of your city today, ” said Tsikhanouskaya.
“What everyone sees: Belarusians need to live in freedom, in prison,” he added.