2020–2021 Belarusian protests
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| 2020 Belarusian protests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Belarusian democracy movement and 2020 Belarusian presidential election | |||
| File:Miting Bangalor 2020.jpg Minsk, 30 July 2020 | |||
| Date | 24 May 2020[citation needed] – ongoing | ||
| Location | |||
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| Methods | |||
| Status | Ongoing | ||
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| Casualties and losses | |||
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| One journalist wounded[3] | |||
The 2020 Belarusian protests, nicknamed the Slipper Revolution,[7][8] and the Anti-Cockroach Revolution[9] are a series of street protests against Belarus's president Alexander Lukashenko.[9][10] The demonstrations, part of the Belarusian democracy movement, are occurring in the lead-up to and during the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, in which Lukashenko seeks a sixth term in office.[10]
Background
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Lukashenko has been called Europe's "last dictator" and, at the outset of the protests, had been in power for 26 years, making him the longest-tenured head of state in the former Soviet Union,[11] having led the country since 1994.[12] Under his authoritarian rule,[12] the government has frequently repressed opposition.[12][11] Lukashenko had faced greater public opposition amid his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which Lukashenko has denied is a serious threat.[11][13] Of the five elections won by Lukashenko, only the first was credibly deemed free and fair by international monitors.[14]
Before the election
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The businessman and blogger Siarhei Tsikhanouski who labeled Lukashenko as "a cockroach" as in the children's poem "The Mighty Cockroach", with the slipper signifying stamping on the cockroach, was detained in late May 2020 by Belarusian authorities, who accused him of being a foreign agent.[15] In June 2020, street protests against Lukashenko took place.[13] A number of opposition candidates registered for the next election as a result of the movement, but many of them were arrested.[15]
On 19 June, Lukashenko announced that he had "foiled a coup attempt", resulting in the arrest of main opposition rival Viktar Babaryka.[16] Babaryka has stated that the charges of bribery and corruption were falsified and that the arrest was politically motivated to stop him from winning the elections.[17] Opposition activists, journalists and bloggers have also been arrested as part of the crackdown.[18] The human rights group Viasna estimated that, between early May and early August, about 1,300 people have been detained for protesting.[19]
Lukashenko has claimed that the opposition protests are part of a foreign plot,[20] blaming the demonstrations as a plot orchestrated by foreigners, who he suggested might be Americans, NATO, Russians, or Ukrainians.[11] Tsikhanouski's wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, registered as a candidate in the upcoming election after the arrest of Babaryka.[15]
The protests have led to suggestions that the conflict may last for months and escalate into violence,[21] and may evolve into a full blown revolution, akin to how the Euromaidan protests turned into a revolution in Ukraine in 2014.[22] The German Marshall Fund, an American think tank, noted that the protests are more widespread, and are being more brutally repressed, than previous protests in Belarus.[23]
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OECD) reported that it would not be monitoring the 2020 election as it had not invited to do so;[24] this is the first time since 2001 the OECD's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will not monitor elections in Belarus.[14] The OECD has not recognised any elections in Belarus as free and fair since 1995,[24] and past OECD election-monitoring missions in the country have been obstructed by the government.[14]
On July 23, Lukashenko claimed that the BBC and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty had encouraged riots and threatened to expel media and ban them from reporting on the election.[25]
On 6 August, an estimated 5,000 protesters took to the streets in Minsk waving white ribbons, calling for free and fair elections.[26]
Over the first week in August, tens of thousands of Belarusians demonstrated against Lukashenko in towns and cities across the county; 60,000 demonstrated in the capital Minsk, the largest street protests in post-Soviet Belarus.[19] Sky News also reported that 33 alleged mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, were recently arrested in a sanatorium outside Minsk.[19]
After the election
After state TV revealed the results of an exit poll showing a landslide Lukashenko victory, clashes between protesters and riot police broke out in Minsk. Reports of injuries and the use of stun grenades and rubber bullets emerged.[27]
The main opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanoŭskaya, said in a news conference that she did not trust the exit poll, saying, "I believe my eyes, and I see that the majority is with us".[27]
As polling closed many internet service providers lost routing, the communication losses were widespread as police and military closed down most of Minsk.[28] After state TV revealed the results of an exit poll showing a landslide Lukashenko victory, clashes between protesters and riot police broke out in Minsk with reports of injuries and the use of stun grenades and rubber bullets.[27]
On the second night after the allegedly falsified results were announced, protesters barricaded the area around the Rīga market. Regime forces responded by tear-gassing the protesters and using flashbangs.[29] A protestor died after an explosion, Interior Ministry claims that device detonated in his hands.[30]
See also
References
- ^ "Białoruś: "armia nie dopuści do upadku państwa"". Defence24.pl. 18 July 2020.
- ^ "У Менску загінуў удзельнік акцыі пратэсту". Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian).
- ^ Belarus election: Opposition disputes Lukashenko landslide win
- ^ "Multiple arrests in Belarus rallies following Babariko detention". euronews. 19 June 2020.
- ^ Jacek Pawlicki. "Na Białorusi wrze. „Społeczeństwo zrozumiało, że kraj jest w rozsypce, że łukaszenkowska stabilizacja to jedna wielka bańka"". Newsweek Poland.
- ^ Nikita Grekowicz (18 July 2020). "Białoruś się burzy. Łukaszenka zamyka demonstrantów i wyklucza rywali do wyborów prezydenckich". OKO.press.
- ^ "Belarus: Could slippers topple a president who has been in power for 26 years?". Sky News.
- ^ "'Slipper Revolution' Shakes Belarus". Voice of America.
- ^ a b Shkliarov, Vitali (4 June 2020). "Belarus Is Having an Anti-'Cockroach' Revolution". Foreign Policy.
- ^ a b Uladz Hrydzin (25 May 2020). "Belarusians Protest Against Lukashenka's Run For Sixth Term As President". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
- ^ a b c d Ivan Nechepurenko, Europe's 'Last Dictator,' Facing Re-Election, Is Increasingly in Peril, New York Times (August 7, 2020).
- ^ a b c Vladimir Dorokhov & Roman Goncharenko, Belarus elections: Lukashenko's authoritarian grip faces test, Deutsche Welle (August 6, 2020).
- ^ a b "Belarus' Lukashenko outlaws protests, arrests opponents". Deutsche Welle.
- ^ a b c Tony Wesolowsky, Five Factors That Ensure Lukashenka Wins Every Election In Belarus, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (August 6, 2020).
- ^ a b c "'Slipper Revolution' Shakes Belarus". Voice of America. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
- ^ AFP, Tatiana Kalinovskaya for (19 June 2020). "Belarus Leader's Election Rival Detained as Crackdown Intensifies". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ Ilyushina, Mary (21 June 2020). "Belarus strongman faces mass protests after jailing of his main rivals". CNN.
- ^ "Belarus opposition protests end in arrests". BBC News. 20 June 2020.
- ^ a b c "Belarus: The three women on a 'mission' to take on Europe's last dictator". Sky News. 8 August 2020.
- ^ "Belarus arrests journalists and protesters as president says he has foiled 'foreign plot'". Agence France-Presse. 19 June 2020 – via The Telegraph.
- ^ "How poor handling of Covid-19 has caused uproar in Belarus". New Statesman.
- ^ "Belarus's middle class begins to turn on Lukashenko". Financial Times. 23 June 2020.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ "Jak nie opozycja, to może koronawirus i tonąca gospodarka pokona wreszcie Łukaszenkę". onet.pl. 5 July 2020.
- ^ a b Vasilyeva, Nataliya (14 July 2020). "Authorities in Belarus to charge anti-government protesters with rioting for clashing with police". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ "Belarus: Leader Threatens to Expel Media Over Election News". The New York Times. Associated Press. 23 July 2020.
- ^ "Thousands protest in Belarus calling for a fair election". Euronews. 6 August 2020.
- ^ a b c "Belarus election: Clashes after poll predicts Lukashenko re-election". BBC News. 10 August 2020.
- ^ "Belarus election: Protesters clash with police after disputed presidential vote". euronews. 10 August 2020.
- ^ "Менск: да «Рыгі» дабраліся сілавікі, пачалася зачыстка, чуваць шумавыя гранаты, будуюцца барыкады". Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian).
- ^ Kennedy, Rachael (10 August 2020). "Belarus election: protests register their first fatality". euronews. Retrieved 10 August 2020.