Belarusian police arrested at least 640 people during Sunday’s protests. The DPA informed about it with reference to the data of the human rights organization Vjasna. People who took to the streets in many Belarusian cities, including Minsk and Brest, are united by the motto “I’m going out”. That was the latest report from 31-year-old activist Raman Bandarenko, who died in hospital on Thursday after being beaten and detained in Minsk.
In the capital, according to witnesses referred to by Reuters, police arrested dozens of people. To disperse the crowd that demonstrated against the government Alexandra Lukashenko, deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades.
According to the DPA, journalists were also among those arrested. Several people were injured, including a woman hit in the leg by a deafening grenade or a man captured in witnesses lying unconscious on the lawn. He had allegedly been beaten before.
Tens of thousands of Belarusians gathered across #Belarus today to protest peacefully in memory of the murdered Raman Bandarenka. Lukashenka used gas, grenades and firearms against the protesters. Many wounded and injured. Devastating. pic.twitter.com/swkK7lz29g
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) November 15, 2020
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The DPA estimated the number of participants in the demonstration in Minsk at several thousand. At 15 stations in the city center, it was closed from the morning so that as few people as possible could get to the demonstration. Many streets were dammed by police and technology.
Belarus has been plagued by a political crisis since August, when Lukashenko declared himself the winner of the presidential election. He rejects the opposition’s claim that he had the elections falsified in his favor. He has ruled the country for what has been called the last European dictatorship for 26 years. Tens of thousands of people take to the streets of Belarusian cities every week.
Cichanouska: Lukashenko and his people are terrorists
Svyatlana Cichanouska, a leading figure in the Belarusian opposition and Lukashenko’s main opponent who went into exile in Lithuania, said she supported Sunday’s protests in memory of Bandarenko. His death was condemned on Thursday.
“Our country has definitely turned into a crime scene. I declare Alexander Lukashenko and his accomplices a terrorist organization that must be held accountable for its crimes,” Cichanouská said on the Telegram social platform.
According to the independent server tut.by and some opposition leaders, the masked men who beat Bandarenka were collaborators of the Lukashenko regime.
The death of the activist was also condemned by the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell. The EU has previously adopted sanctions against Lukashenko, his son and 53 other people around them. He attributes to them responsibility for the violent repression of anti-regime protests following the contested August presidential elections.
#Belarus Happening right now in #Minsk.A new epicentre of the protest is the neighbourhood,where Raman Bandarenka was beaten and detained.Crowds are gathering here today. In other cities, residents came to people’s memorials as well. Police responded with stun grenades and batons pic.twitter.com/AuUgUMk8vJ
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) November 15, 2020
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Take a look at the dramatic footage from Belarus: a man was rescued from the hard-line clothes by a taxi driver
The incident occurred on a day when Belarusians protested overnight in the metropolis and other cities against Alexander Lukashenko’s inauguration. | Video: Twitter / euroradio.fm, Reuters
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