40 days after the murder of Raman Bandarenka and 10 years since the 2010 protests Belarusians went out on protest marches; OMON police detained a father with two young daughters and tore another father away from a stroller with a baby in it; Yelena Leuchanka held a debate with a pro-Lukashenko athlete
19 December 2020 | BYHelp-Mediagroup
Source: Belsat
Belarusians went out on a march. Although today is not Sunday
This Saturday Belarusians marched in many districts of Minsk and other cities and were able to organize columns with a significant number of people in them. Due to the fact that the marches were spontaneous and not announced via any of the popular Telegram channels protesters managed to gather even on the central streets of Minsk. Meeting points and the format of such protest actions were arranged in “courtyard chats”, so the security forces were unable to promptly respond. However according to some reports a few people still got detained.
Some of the marches were dedicated to the events of 19 December 2010. On that day tens of thousands of Belarusians who protested against another “victory” of Lukashenko were severely beaten in the central square of Minsk. 19 December 2020 also marks 40 days that passed since the murder of Raman Bandarenka.
Source: b-g.by
OMON detained Minsk residents along with their young children. “An order was passed to detain three men”
Today a neighbours’ meeting in the Liabiazhy district of Minsk ended in arrests. In the afternoon people came out into the courtyard for a walk with their children when all of a sudden three minibuses with security forces arrived there. Children were very scared but no arrests took place.
In the evening the residents gathered again in the courtyard for some tea. According to eyewitnesses, at the same time a man resembling Valery Vakulchyk, the former KGB chairman and the Secretary of State of the Belarus Security Council and currently the presidential aide in the Brest region, was seen passing by the courtyard. Many tend to believe that it was he who called the security forces. Soon after two minibuses with riot police appeared in the courtyard. One of the security officers said: “I have an order to arrest three men.” After that a father with two small daughters and another father who was literally torn away from a stroller with an 8-month-old baby and a third man were detained. Neighbours had to take the stroller with the baby since apparently the man was not allowed to call his wife.
After being transported to one of the Minsk police departments, the man with two daughters was released and told to wait for a subpoena. The father of the eight-month-old baby is still in the police department. He might be detained for longer.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus reacted to the video about tortures in the Frunzensky district police department during the August events
On 18 December BYPOL initiative posted another video with the evidence of cruel and inhumane treatment of peaceful protesters during their arrest.
Today the Ministry of Internal Affairs provided an official comment: “An internal investigation is being carried out regarding the issue of a video recording showing police officers of the Frunzensky District not treating the detainees very well. The minister of Internal Affairs has assigned the task. Based on the results of the investigation certain conclusions will be drawn,” said the First Deputy Interior Minister Yury Nazaranka.
Apparently by “not treating very well” the First Deputy Interior Minister means torture of the detainees during which men and women were lying face down in the gym of the police department with their hands tied, some were beaten with truncheons and occasional screams could be heard.
Source: Onliner
Maksim Nedasekau replied to Yelena Leuchanka: “Even if violence is proven I will still support the authorities”
The famous Belarusian basketball player Yelena Leuchanka invited a young athlete Maksim Nedasekau who signed the athletes’ pro-government letter to participate in a debate. During a live broadcast Yelena who spent 15 days in a temporary detention ward for participating in peaceful rallies tried to figure out the civic stance of one of the athletes who signed a letter in support of the current government. During the broadcast they discussed repression against athletes, election fraud and violence in Belarus.
Some quotes from Nedasekau are worth mentioning:
“I support President Lukashenko. But no one supports violence. Why if I am for Lukashenko people immediately say that I support violence?”
“And you don’t care what is happening to the people and the country where you live?”
“But people generally do not care about what I do. So why should I care about what happens to the people, right?”
“And who will you represent at the Olympics if not the people of Belarus?”
“The people who support me are of higher rank than me, they occupy certain positions and they are the ones who prepare me for this competition. So what does this have to do with all other people who, roughly speaking, did not take any part in this?”
“If we assume that in the future it will be proven that all the violence that you see in the internet is true will you still support the government?”
“Of course. If I support it now then why shouldn’t I support it later?”
Source: TUT.BY
For more information on the events of 19 December 2020, please visit Infocenter Free Belarus 2020:
