Live-blogging day three of protests in Belarus
Belarus is witnessing a third day of protests following a contested presidential race that ended officially with a landslide victory for long-time incumbent Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka). The main opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya), rejected the state’s election results and demonstrators have clashed with riot police on the streets of Minsk and other cities. During the first two nights of protests, on Sunday and Monday, August 9 and 10, law enforcement brutally suppressed demonstrators, beating people and firing tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds. Several journalists covering the unrest have also been attacked and arrested.
What happened today:
- Svetlana Tikhanovskaya left Belarus and is now in Lithuania.
- Two videos of Tikhanovskaya appeared online: one where she suggests that she went abroad to protect her children and another where she calls on supporters to stop protesting.
- In the second video, Tikhanovskaya appears to be under duress. She reads her statement from a sheet of paper without looking up at the camera. Additionally, Meduza has confirmed that the video was recorded in the office of Belarus’s central election commissioner.
- The state news agency BelTA released footage of “provocateurs” being arrested. The individuals featured in the video include two activists from “Open Russia” who went to Belarus to participate in election monitoring.
- Belarusian state investigators say they will seize any vehicles used to block roadways.
This concludes our live blog for tonight. Whether or not the demonstrations in Belarus will continue tomorrow remains unclear. Stay tuned to Meduza to find out. Have a safe night, everyone.
2:00 a.m. local time: Hereʼs whatʼs happening
- Demonstrators took the streets in cities across Minsk again tonight, but the protests in Minsk and Grodno attracted the most attention. In Grodno, a military jeep collided with a civilian vehicle.
- The security forces concentrated on drivers today: they beat passing cars with truncheons, broke windows, and pulled motorists from their vehicles so they could beat them up and arrest them.
- Riot police appeared to be targeting reporters and photojournalists, and deliberately breaking their equipment. Several journalists had their flash drives confiscated or were forced to delete pictures.
- Like yesterday, protesters gathered in small groups in different parts of Minsk. Some of them managed to build barricades from scrap material, but these were quickly taken down by riot police.
- Law enforcement officers beat up and arrested demonstrators in the courtyards of their apartment buildings, while onlookers shouted at them from the upstairs windows and balconies of their homes.
Read more about todayʼs events in Belarus
- ‘The people of Belarus have made their choice’ Belarusian opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya calls for end to protests in suspicious video shared online
- Bye bye, Bynet Belarusian officials say foreigners are responsible for the country’s sudden Internet outages, but I.T. experts suspect the government is to blame
- Whereabouts unknown More than 50 journalists have been arrested in Belarus this week
Protesters in the city of Zhlobin (Gomel Region) hoisted a red and white flag in the city center.
Minsk residents watching from their windows and balconies as riot police attempt to disperse protesters are shouting «Shame» and calling the officers fascists. According to eyewitnesses, the security forces fired at the balconies.
Tut.by has published photographs of protesters injured by rubber bullets. Warning: these images contain a lot of blood.
The protesters in the Syerabranka neighborhood have been dispersed, Sputnik Belarus claims. Ambulances are on the scene dealing with injuries.
On the other hand, the Telegram channel Maya Kraina Belarus reports that demonstrators had reconvened and started to build barricades, until security forces arrived in unmarked vehicles and started beating protesters. «According to one eyewitnesses, after 10 minutes he saw that a paramedic was trying to revive one of those guys, whether or not heʼs alive is unknown,» the channel says.
Onliner: Injured protesters from Kamennaya Gorka are being admitted to Hospital Number 10. One was hit with a rubber bullet near his eye. Another injured person says that he was filming the demonstrations on his phone from his car when he was pulled from the vehicle and severely beaten.
Another eyewitness told Belsat that police were stopping passing cars near the Kuntsevishchina Metro Station, pulling people from their vehicles, and beating them up.
A police van drove into the crowd outside of the Riga Mall: riot police fired rubber bullets at people and cars, and made arrests, reports Radio Svaboda.
Meanwhile, according to RIA Novosti, protesters on Rokossovski Avenue have destroyed a police bus. Riot police are trying to disperse the demonstrators and there have been reports of injuries. Ambulances are also on the scene.
A clean-up operation has begun near the Riga Mall, writes TUT.by: police vans and water cannons are on site and there are also reports of what sounds like shots.
«Doctors with the people» during a rally near the Bison Sculpture in Minsk.
Radio Svabodaʼs correspondent shares some «finds» from the streets of Minsk: a rubber bullet, a casing, a pin from a stun grenade, and two cartridges. «One of them looks like a blank cartridge, the other resembles a live round,» the post says.
Via the Russian Embassy in Minsk: «Meduza special correspondent Maxim Solopov (in the photo on the left) has been released and has already left for Russia, accompanied by employees from the embassyʼs consular department.»
Nexta Live is reporting violent clashes between protesters and police officers in the city of Zhabinka (Brest Region, southwestern Belarus). A police car was set on fire.
Mass arrests are taking place during opposition rallies in the city of Vawkavysk in southwestern Belarus, reports Nasha Niva.
Security forces in Minsk attacked a BBC film crew and tried to break their camera. The journalists had official accreditation and were all wearing vests and press cards.
Video footage from Onliner shows riot police in Minsk surrounding various members of the press, and even hitting and kicking them.
Radio Svaboda: Demonstrators on Rokossovski Avenue in Minsk have surrounded the riot police and are preventing four police vans from leaving the site. There are significantly more protesters than police officers.
Opposition Telegram channels are once again reporting that law enforcement officers are using ambulances to get around Minsk. Eyewitnesses said the same thing yesterday, but today thereʼs photos.
The current situation in Minsk
As told by Onliner: «Riot police and internal troops are dispersing small groups of people in different parts of the city. The protesters» [have] a proven tactic: they scattered all across the courtyards and parks at the first [sign of danger] — within a few minutes theyʼve reconvened. Kamennaya Gorka, Uruchcha, the Studenckaja Vioska district, and Lebyadziny are buzzing.
Explosions from stun grenades can be heard in Uruchcha and Kamennaya Gorka. Some of the detentions are very harsh.»
In Lida (a city in the Grodno Region of western Belarus), riot police used stun grenades and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters. According to an eyewitness, people responded by throwing rocks at police vans, Mediazona reports.
Protesters marching through the city center in Gomel, chanting «Gomel, leave!» («Гомель, выходи!»).
Riot police forming a chain in Minskʼs Syerabranka neighborhood.
Law enforcement officers are making arrests in the city of Grodno. Riot police surrounded Tut.byʼs correspondent and photographer, and forced them to delete several pictures, warning them not to photograph officers «or you will have problems.»
Protesters demonstrating outside of the Belarusian Embassy in Kyiv today
The Belarusian Embassy in Moscow also witnessed demonstrations
Demonstrators are breaking up the sidewalk and throwing paving stones at a police van in Minskʼs Kamennaya Gorka neighborhood, reports Nasha Niva. According to Radio Svabodaʼs correspondent, the protesters on Kamennaya Gorka have set up barricades, and are using fireworks and firecrackers to fend off soldiers from the internal troops. Riot police are responding with stun grenades.
Dozens of cars are now blocking the entrance to Rokossovski Avenue in Minsk, as riot police officers disperse and arrest protesters there, reports TUT.by.
Protests are taking place in smaller Belarusian towns, as well. Earlier, three vans carrying riot police officers arrived in the town of Zaslawye (with a population of approximately 15,000 people), dispersed demonstrators, and then left. The protesters are now reconvening, reports Nasha Niva.
Minsk, right now.
Maria Kolesnikova (Maryia Kalesnikava), a member of Tikhanovskayaʼs campaign triumvirate — has released a video address. «We ask the ruling authorities not to ignore the will of the people. Donʼt drown it with water cannons, donʼt stun it with grenades, and donʼt beat it with truncheons. On the streets weʼre seeing ordinary people who want change,» she says.
Much like during yesterdayʼs demonstrations, protesters in Minsk are gathering in pockets throughout the city. While Kuku and Belsat are reporting the use of stun grenades in the Kamennaya Gorka neighborhood, Euroradio is reporting the use of fireworks. Meanwhile, «smoke bombs» have been set off in the Partizanskaya Metro Station. Demonstrators have also blocked off Rokossovski Avenue, reports Radio Svaboda.
Tut.by has shared footage from Monday nightʼs protest in Minsk where a man approached a group of riot police, before suddenly staggering and collapsing.
Cover photo: Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA