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The demonstration, entitled “New Belarus March”, began on Independence Square near the Government House. Some of the participants of the march have already arrived at the hotel “Plaņeta”, where a rally is planned.
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The march has not been sanctioned by the authorities and the militia has intensified in the center of Minsk. From the loudspeakers located in the buildings surrounding the Planet Hotel, calls are scattered, warning that otherwise force may be used.
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Prior to that, the marchers gathered in Independence Square, where a moment of silence commemorated the protesters who lost their lives this month when the militia used force against the protesters.
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People went to Independence Square in larger and smaller columns from the city districts. Many protesters from other parts of Belarus have also arrived in Minsk.
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The Belarusian Ministry of Defense warned on Sunday that the army would protect the memorial sites of the Soviet side of the Second World War. Dozens of soldiers are stationed at the stall in Victory Square. The soldiers also besieged the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, opposite which is the hotel “Plaņeta”, where a rally is planned.
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People are also holding protests in other Belarusian cities, including Baranovichi, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Kobrin, Lida, Mogilev. Mozyr, Pinsk, Soligorsk, Vitebsk, Zhlobin.
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This is the second mass march in Minsk, demanding the resignation of Lukashenko. Several hundred thousand people also took part in the first march last Sunday.
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Protests against the falsification of the August 9 presidential election and authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who have often escalated into protest clashes with security forces, continue in Belarus. Thousands have been detained and several hundred injured in protests. Workers in many state-owned enterprises are on strike.
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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. European Union countries do not recognize election results.
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