Posted 17 августа 2020, 06:35
Published 17 августа 2020, 06:35
Modified 24 декабря 2022, 22:37
Updated 24 декабря 2022, 22:37
"Hundreds of thousands of people today took to peaceful demonstrations, demanding the release of political prisoners, punishment of those responsible for police violence, and real elections. The European Union stands with the people of Belarus", - Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter.
According to various estimates, at the rally of citizens opposing the official election results, there were from 200 to 250 thousand people. This is an absolute record in the history of Belarusian protests. A spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus said that the action took place peacefully and without detention. However, information appeared in the Belarusian media that several people were detained.
At the "anti-Maidan" rally of supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko, which took place simultaneously with the aforementioned rally, there were an order of magnitude fewer people. Official sources spoke about 50 thousand, the media counted no more than 30 thousand.
We will remind, on August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The CEC announced that the incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won them with a score of 80.08%, and his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya - 10.09%. She did not recognize these results. Tikhanovskaya later left the country, although she had no intention of doing so. The headquarters said that the authorities forced her to do it.
Large-scale protests do not stop in the country, more than 7 thousand people were detained.
One person was killed. Hundreds of photo and video evidence of detainees being abused have been published.
Lukashenko has repeatedly and publicly appealed to Russian President Putin for both moral and military support. According to most observers, the Russian Federation will not send troops to rescue Lukashenko's regime.