Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived this Sunday by helicopter and rifle in hand at the Independence Palace, the official presidential residence, amid opposition protests in the vicinity of the place. This is the 15th consecutive day of protests against Lukashenko.
A video posted on social media shows Lukashenko getting out of a helicopter wearing black clothing, a bulletproof vest, a cap and a Kalashnikov rifle without a magazine in hand. After getting off the device, he asked the guards if there was anyone else there, referring to the protesters.
The president is accompanied by his 15-year-old son, Nikolai, dressed in a camouflage uniform and also with a bulletproof vest and a machine gun, also without a magazine.
This Sunday thousands of protesters have gathered again to denounce what they consider a fraudulent reelection of Lukashenko. Military personnel have protected the monument to the fight against the Nazis with barbed wire located in the main square of Minsk.
Later, presidential spokeswoman Natalia Eismont explained in statements to the ONT channel that Lukashenko had been working all day at his residence and that he was there when the protesters arrived, reports the news portal tut.by.
In fact, Eismont has denounced an “attempted assault on the palace” by the protesters, but “they did not have the courage and seeing what could happen, they turned around and ran, literally, in the opposite direction.” Lukashenko then flew over the city by helicopter and returned to continue his work and went out to thank and congratulate the security personnel deployed to the perimeter of the presidential residence.
The Belarusian opposition is demanding a re-election, an option that Lukashenko has emphatically ruled out. Furthermore, the opposition denounces fraud and a large part of the international community does not recognize the result.
Since then, Belarusians have been holding massive demonstrations against the veteran president, in power since 1994, which to date have resulted in at least two deaths, hundreds of wounded and thousands of detainees, most of whom have already been released. .
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