In the center of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Sunday, ahead of the planned opposition demonstration against the rigged presidential election and authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a tense situation broke out, with authorities mobilizing large police forces and urging the opposition not to abandon protests.
The Independence Square in the center of Minsk is surrounded by metal fences, it is guarded by security forces, a DPA correspondent reports from the scene.
The Interior Ministry has urged citizens not to take part in the unauthorized demonstration and has threatened violence.
The pro-democracy movement ignores these threats and points out that Lukashenko, who is celebrating his 66th birthday on Sunday, should see that the people are against him and that his term is coming to an end.
The motto of the protest demonstration is “For freedom and independence”.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Minsk last Sunday to protest against Lukashenko. So far, the police have not intervened in these mass demonstrations.
In recent days, other demonstrations have been dispersed and detained, apparently signaling to the authorities that new mass demonstrations may no longer be allowed.
Protests against the falsification of the August 9 presidential election and authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who have often escalated into protesters’ clashes with security forces, remain unabated in Belarus. Thousands have been detained and several hundred injured in protests. Workers in many state-owned enterprises are on strike.
According to official results, Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, won 80.1% of the vote, while opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovska won 10.1%, but the opposition believes the election results are fake and Tikhanovska has won the election convincingly. The European Union also does not recognize the election results.
