Belarus Opposition Conducts a March It Calls ‘Inauguration of the Real President’
As the NEXTE telegram channel reported, last Sunday was marked by peaceful street protests with tens of thousands of participants. The march was called the People’s Inauguration of the Real President.
According to Tut.by, protests have occurred in Brest, Gomel, Mogilev, Grodno, Vitebsk, Zhodino, Bobruisk, Baranovichi, Lid and Zhabinka. In these cities protests were much smaller in scale; many were beaten and arrested by police.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated about 200 detainees. However, human rights watchdogs reported about 260 detainees.
In Grodno, as well as Gomel and Mogilev regions, police used a range of non-lethal weapons against protesters, including teargas.
According to the local police departments, all the riot control weapons were used in order to protect police officers from the aggression of the protesters. Several criminal cases were opened and the Belarus Investigative Committee has already stepped in.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was a competitor of the current president during the last election and now is staying in Lithuania, cheers people in their 50th day of protests.
«Today is the 50th day of our protest and the people of Belarus once again take the streets. We are going to stop this regime and will do this peacefully. Democracy is the power of people. Because people fight for their rights, their future and the future for their children, they are much stronger as a whole than one person. We are the millions; we are ready to take responsibility for our decisions and that’s why we will win,» she stated.
Earlier, there were massive protests in Belarus against Alexander Lukashenko, who was inaugurated as the president with high secrecy. There was neither TV streaming of the ceremony nor any official announcements.
On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. According to official information, the winner is the current president Lukashenko. However, people do not agree with the results and take to the streets to protest; many of whom have already been arrested.
