The civic movement for democracy and against electoral fraud keeps the pulse of Aleksandr Lukashenko. Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated this Sunday in Minsk and other cities of Belarus against the authoritarian leader despite the increase in repression. Lukashenko, who warned that the “bacchanalia” of protests would end, has deployed thousands of riot police and military personnel and has taken a dozen armored vehicles to the streets of Minsk, already strewn with Army trucks and vans with water cannons. The Belarusian leader, who has asked Russia for help and assures that the mobilizations are a plot by the West and NATO to overthrow him, tightens the siege on protesters, opposition leaders and local and foreign informants. There are 140 detainees in the mobilizations in the Belarusian capital, according to the Interior Ministry.
With shouts of "a court awaits you", "go away" or "we believe, we can, we will win", several columns of citizens, dressed in white and red or carrying the traditional red and white flag, which the opposition has made their symbol, tried to reach Minsk's Independence Square, before a large cordon of riot police and military. Next to Lukashenko's official residence, the protesters left posters and other birthday “gifts”.
The authoritarian leader, who turns 66 this Sunday, has been trying to contain public anger for weeks, who denounces fraud in the August 9 presidential elections. Lukashenko claims his sixth term for 80% of the votes compared to 10% for his rival, the opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya. "Come out, we're going to congratulate you," the protesters chanted ironically. "Happy birthday, rat," they shouted, despite the rain and the presence - without approaching the crowd - of a dozen armored BTR-80s, which the Ministry of the Interior has deployed to "guarantee the safety of the personnel," they said. it's a statement. Some of them had their identification numbers covered with green paint.
"We are many, we are the voice of Belarus, sooner or later we will make the dictator go," says Sergei Vikouski, a 55-year-old engineer who carries a bouquet of white and red balloons in his hand. Nearby, in front of the riot police cordon, a woman lying on the ground held up a banner with the slogan "We are not afraid." A man dressed in black and with a dark mask - in Belarus, practically only some elderly people and the open or covert security forces wear them - recorded the faces of the participants of the demonstration and of the citizens leaning out of the windows of their houses. A technique that has become a threatening custom in a country where critical voices against the regime face harsh reprisals. At least 100,000 people took part in the protest, according to independent Belarusian media.
Lukashenko, who has deployed the Army in a combat-ready position on the western border - which he shares with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - has raised the tone towards protesting citizens in recent days. This Sunday, in the most explicit show of support so far, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated him on his birthday in a telephone call in which both leaders agreed to a visit by the Belarussian to Moscow in "the near future." Moscow has supported Belarus, but has avoided giving a concrete endorsement to Lukashenko, who has become a problematic ally and who for some within the Kremlin has his days in power numbered.
There are more samples: Russia has formed a "reserve security unit" at the request of Lukashenko, ready to intervene in Belarus "if the situation gets out of control", Putin assured, who in an interview on a Russian state channel also stressed ago a few days that Moscow recognizes the legitimacy of the presidential elections of August 9. In addition, the Belarusian leader relies on communication and propaganda strategists from Moscow to try to unify the discourse of the state media.
And while the European Union prepares to impose new Belarus sanctions, Russia has agreed to refinance one billion of Belarusian debt. Some analysts believe it is a way to prop up Lukashenko until the Kremlin, which fears a contagion effect from the protests in Russia, finds a desirable relief. The Belarusian leader clings to power and is using all means in his power to threaten the citizenry and show that he will not leave. This Sunday, the Belarusian Defense Ministry has reported that it has started military exercises in the Grodno region (near the border with Poland and Lithuania) that simulate defense against an invasion.
Lukashenko has also put the spotlight on informants. Between Friday and Saturday, more than twenty journalists and photojournalists from international media such as Reuters, the BBC or the AP have been arrested, several of them, Belarusian citizens, deprived of their accreditation to work in the country; others, mostly Russians, have been deported.