Hundreds of thousands took to the 'Freedom March' in Belarus: Lukashenko 'knelt'

On Sunday, August 16, the largest political protest in the history of Belarus took place in Minsk - hundreds of thousands of people came out under white-red-white flags. Writes about this with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

The action was peaceful, the security forces, who were in the city center with water cannons, did not interfere with the passage of the columns.

The center of the protest was the stela “Minsk - Hero City”.

The “Freedom March,” as the opposition called its action, took place immediately after a rally in support of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

How many people were there?

It is impossible to accurately calculate the number of Belarusians who took part in the Freedom March.

However, even purely by visual estimates, we are talking about the largest political action in the history of Belarus.

“There has never been anything like this in Minsk - such a crowd, such a mood, such unity of the people - even on big holidays like the New Year and May 9,” a BBC correspondent reports from the Belarusian capital.

“And all this is spontaneous, no one is leading the people anywhere, people just took to the streets en masse,” the journalist adds.

“People willingly talked to us, made way, let us through, and allowed themselves to be filmed. Unlike the pro-government rally, where the participants shielded themselves from us with posters and refused to give interviews. There was no spirit of celebration and celebration at Lukashenko’s rally,” the correspondent continues.

The opposition website TUT.by tried to count the number of people at both Minsk rallies using the MapChecking resource: there you can outline a zone and algorithms, determine the approximate area and the number of people who could fit there.

According to these calculations, the rally in Independence Square in support of Lukashenka gathered 31 people.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated its number at 65, and the official Belta agency wrote about 000 thousand supporters of Lukashenko.

At the same time, about 220 people gathered at the “Minsk - Hero City” stele, according to TUT.by estimates.

The editors warn that the service does not make the final calculations, because no method for assessing public events provides accurate data.

What was required

People who gathered for the Freedom March demanded the release of all political prisoners, the resignation of President Lukashenko and fair elections.

Whole families came to the action at the stele, despite the fact that it was not formally agreed with the authorities.

There was also a column of Airborne Forces veterans in paratrooper uniforms with a poster “Airborne Forces with the People.”

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People held posters with the words “You don’t understand - you’re fired!”, “The Hague is waiting for you” and “Akrestina. Don’t forget” (talking about the detention center in Minsk, where hundreds of detained protesters were and are being held).

Many protesters carried white-red-white flags (historically the national flag of Belarus) and symbols with the unofficial coat of arms “Pahonia” - symbols that were official in Belarus from 1991 to 1995 and were abolished by the referendum initiated by Alexander Lukashenko.

Opposition rallies on Sunday, August 16, were held in many other cities of Belarus.

In some of them, for example, in Gomel and Baranovichi, white-red-white flags were raised next to the official red-green ones.

Before the Freedom March, a rally was held in support of Lukashenko, where he met with his supporters for the first time in Minsk.

How was the rally in support of Lukashenka

His half-hour speech was extremely emotional - Belarusian journalists say that they do not remember such displays of emotion from the long-time president of Belarus.

And in the end, he even, in his words, “knelt down”: “I am kneeling in front of you for the first time in my life. You deserve it!". Although he didn't actually kneel.

I did not forget to mention Lukashenka and the accusations of electoral fraud.

“There cannot be more than 80% of falsifications! It can’t be,” answered Alexander Lukashenko.

The Belarusian Central Election Commission announced the official election results - according to them, Alexander Lukashenko received 80% of the votes, his opponent Svetlana Tikhanovska - 10%.

“If we go to the polls, we’ll die, and that’s what they want abroad!” — he spoke out against re-elections.

Traditionally, Alexander Lukashenko spoke about external threats. This time there were no “neighbors from Russia” - it was only about NATO.

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“Someone wants new elections. Look out the window! NATO troops are ringing their tracks at our borders. Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine are ordering us to hold new elections,” Lukashenko complained.

“We must not become a latrine for Europe! - he shouted. “We don’t need overseas governments, we need our own.” We are offered a new government, we are offered NATO soldiers, blacks, yellow-haired and blond. They want to dress us in bast shoes and beat us with a whip.”

“They won’t give us a quiet life, even if they calm down now, they will crawl out like rats from holes. They are controlled by strangers. They see the western borders of our Belarus here near Minsk, as in 1939, and not near Brest. We will all stand up as the Brest Fortress, we will not give up the country,” Lukashenko assured.

“It won’t be Lukashenko who will destroy Belarus; if you lose the first president, this will be the beginning of your end - you will be on your knees, like in Ukraine and other countries, and praying to who knows who,” he addressed his supporters.

“I remember in the nineties, people stood here with pots and kettles and asked for food, and I saw it all. And then I vowed to help you and not let the Maidans into the fate of the Belarusians. I am not a supporter of rallies. But, unfortunately, it’s not my fault that I had to call you for help,” the Belarusian leader apologized.

Lukashenko recalled how in the early nineties “instead of an empire, without which not a single issue could be resolved, we received a bloody stump.”

“Thank you, Minsk residents, for putting up with me for a quarter of a century, a man who came to you from the provinces! I didn’t call you here to protect me, although not without that. You came here so that for the first time in a quarter of a century you could defend your country, your independence, your wives, sisters and children,” Lukashenko added.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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Protests in Belarus: 7 thousand detainees, female human chains, support from the US diaspora

Protests in Belarus continue: EU and US plan to impose new sanctions against Minsk

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