Protests against Lukashenko: a president in riot gear

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Tens of thousands of protesters marched peacefully through the streets of Minsk: this time the police presence was large and visible.

Alexander Lukashenko set out this weekend, gun in hand, to defend his power against peaceful protesters. That emerges from videos that show him on Sunday in a bulletproof vest, with a Kalashnikov and in black riot gear, how he flies in a helicopter over the capital and lands in front of his residence in the city center. The videos were published by the Lukashenko-loyal Telegram channel "pul_1".

This was preceded by the protest movement's largest rally in a week. Tens of thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets of Minsk to protest against the rigged presidential election. They called for the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in office for 26 years and who ascribed a completely unbelievable election result of 80 percent of the vote.

The protesters thus defied much intimidation. In the past week, the dreaded Omon special police made new arrests. Lukashenko was able to successfully contain an incipient strike movement. The President, which was felt in the days leading up to the weekend, appears more confident again. 

A tactical threat

However, the protesters had received the sharpest threat from the mouth of the defense minister. Whoever comes near a war memorial with the white-red-white flag of the opposition will no longer only have to deal with the police, but with the army itself, he called out shortly before the start of the rally. The "fascist" flag will not allow the war memorial to be desecrated. The flag of the protest movement comes from the anti-Soviet national movement, it was used by pro-German forces during World War II.

The threat had a very specific, tactical purpose. The government wanted to prevent the protest movement from going to the "Stele", a war memorial with a memorial, as it did on Sunday. From there it would not be far to the Independence Palace, Lukashenko's residence. Access to the memorial was therefore cordoned off with barbed wire and a cordon made up of soldiers and police.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people moved from Independence Square through the center towards the stele, unhindered by the police, who had marched into the back streets with many personnel carriers and prisoner transporters. This time, unlike the previous Sunday, the police presence was large and visible.

But the feared escalation did not occur. At the stele, prominent representatives of the protest movement immediately put an end to all arguments with soldiers and police officers. They brought the crowd back to a safe distance.

Premiere for the coordination council

For the first time, the newly elected "coordination council" of the protest movement, which is supposed to ensure a peaceful transfer of power and was founded on the initiative of Svetlana Tichanowskaya, Lukashenko's opponent candidate, appeared. Many see her as the real election winner. From her exile in Lithuania she had called for protests and strikes.

Pawel Latuschko, former Minister of Culture and Head of the Kupala National Theater, announced the further steps of the Coordination Council. A referendum wanted to return to the 1994 constitution, which gave parliament more rights. Members of parliament are to be recalled via initiative groups. They also want to hold the guilty party responsible for police violence. Many protesters in Minsk had been brutally mistreated.

Latuschko is the only former senior official in the Presidium of the Coordination Council. Its members were summoned on Thursday as part of criminal proceedings for an attempt to seize power.

"Saturday and Sunday is time to reflect" 

Apparently Lukashenko had already prepared himself for a storm at his residence. This is the only way to interpret the images, after which he flew there with gun in hand. The publication of the recordings is obviously intended to underscore Lukashenko's determination.

Alexander Lukashenko had already announced a tough crackdown on Saturday - but only on Monday. "Saturday and Sunday is time to think. Nobody should be angry from Monday," he said to a crowd of supporters in Grodno.

It is now open whether he can carry out this threat. The peaceful pressure from the streets has apparently not eased. The weakness of the protest movement, however, is that it only shows its full extent on weekends.