At least one hundred thousand people demonstrated again in Minsk, over four hundred of them were arrested by police – ČT24 – Czech Television

Minsk. This is what a column of protesters looks like from a height next to the residential complex “Cascade”. People are chanting “We are power here.” pic.twitter.com/xJSuitOR0V

— TUT.BY (@tutby) September 13, 2020

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The interior denied and later confirmed the warning shot

According to a correspondent for the Russian state agency TASS, protesters met in the center from various districts in Minsk. However, in some places their path was blocked by police officers and police cars. Independence Square, where protesters traditionally gather, has been cut off by barriers set in adjacent streets. The non-state Belarusian server Tut.by also wrote about military equipment and cars with barbed wire.

A long crowd in several columns bypassed the Palace of Independence, which is the representative seat of President Lukashenko and is guarded by strong divisions of armed members of the Interior Ministry troops. There are also Antons ready to transport arrested people, buses and water cannons.

The media reported that a warning shot was fired at protesters near Lukashenko’s headquarters. The Interior Ministry initially responded by stating that it did not know anything like that, but later admitted from footage of the incident that it had fired a police officer to “stop the illegal actions” of a group of people.

According to TASS, the police started arresting people for demonstrations before the protests began. The agency’s rapporteur also reported in the evening that police had used tear gas against the demonstrators in some places. According to Tut.by, the Ministry of the Interior said that more than four hundred protesters had been detained in Minsk by 19:00 (18:00 CET).

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It will also be demonstrated in other cities

Apparently, several dozen people were detained by police in other cities. Tut.by informed about demonstrations in Grodno, Gomel, Lida, Babruysk, Vaukavysk, Baranovichi, Navapolack, Navagrudak, Mogilev.

Police officers acted harshly during arrests in Brest, among others, where they also used a water cannon to disperse people, and in Vitebsku. They also document the brutality shots from the town of Žodzina, where one of the policemen punched a woman who had not provoked him with a blow to the face.

Belarus is experiencing the biggest protests since independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. They erupted after the August 9 presidential election, after which Lukashenko, who has ruled the country hard for 26 years, has declared himself the clear winner.

However, the opposition considers the results to be falsified, nor has the European Union recognized them. Every Sunday, according to estimates by opposition and journalists, around 100,000 people take part in protests in Minsk.

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