At least 80 people have been detained in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in thousands of protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. On Sunday, November 1, residents went on a memorial march to the site of the Stalin-era massacre in Kurapati, but security guards used sound grenades as well as warning shots in the air to drive out the demonstration.
Thousands of people take to the streets in Minsk; demonstrators are detained and expelledUģis Lībietis00:00 / 02:25
—
It will soon be three months since the presidential elections in Belarus. And as every Sunday, on November 1, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Minsk and other cities, to express their dissatisfaction with Alexander Lukashenko’s rule.
Protesters and police in Minsk, 01.11.2020.
Photo: EPA, STR
–
–
Today’s protests were called a march against terror, and the chosen destination was also quite symbolic – the Kurapati on the outskirts of Minsk. There, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the USSR People’s Commissariat carried out mass murder and mass burial. It is estimated that at that time the number of victims ranged from seven to 250 thousand people.
In memory of the dead, activists have been going to Kurapati since 1988 to lay flowers and light candles. The last march to the site of the massacre was carried out in 1988, when Soviet forces used tear gas against people.
Following Alexander Lukashenko’s promise this week to stabilize the country by shaking hands with all those who will insult the military and not to ceremony with students or workers, law enforcement officials had already blocked access to Minsk’s central squares in good time. Barbed wire was also used to block access to the World War II stall, which had become a gathering place for protest marches.
That is why this time the most attention was paid to the direction of Kurapati.
By firing warning shots in the air and using noise and smoke grenades, special task forces drove out a large number of participants, detaining dozens of protesters. According to information provided by the Viasna human rights center, there are about 100 detainees. Among them are journalists once again.
Detention continued both in the open field near Kurapatu and in residential areas. Some videos show that the protesters are not only fleeing the militia, but are also facing them, including some good detainees.
Protesters and police in Minsk, 01.11.2020.
Photo: EPA, STR
–
–
However, according to the portal “tut.by”, due to the activities of today’s militia, a relatively smaller number of people have reached the memorial event in Kurapati – only a few thousand. As opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovska said before the march, the main goal of today’s campaign is both to commemorate the past and to oppose state terror – both what happened almost 100 years ago and what is happening in Belarus today.
–
Highlight text and press Ctrl+Enterto send the text to be edited!
Highlight text and press Report a bug buttons to send the text to be edited!
–
–
