Rally in Minsk
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More than 100,000 people have gathered in Minsk for a protest rally against the long-term victory of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, but the Belarusian Ministry of Defense has issued a serious warning, the US state broadcaster reports. Radio Free Europe.
A rally entitled “The March of the New Belarus” took place in the capital of Belarus on Sunday, August 23, in the evening. Sunday was the 15th day in a row that there were protests against the August 9 presidential election, the outcome and the security forces’ retaliation against the disgruntled population. The participants of the march carried the significant white-red-white flag of Belarus and sang the slogans: “Go away!” and “Get up!”.
Large protests also took place in other Belarusian cities on Sunday, but in neighboring Lithuania, residents have formed a 30-kilometer-long chain of people from Vilnius to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border.
Belarus’s internal affairs structures have generally not intervened in the rallies. On the site Telegram after the end of the Minsk rally, a video was published, where Lukashenko can be seen getting off the helicopter in the capital, dressed in a body armor and with a rifle in his hand.
As reported Radio Free Europe, The Ministry of Defense has issued a warning that the army will continue to respond to possible violations of peace and order in the country, especially in places of military remembrance:
“You will now be dealing with the army, not the police.”
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