Live Feed | 1 Sept

1 September 2020 | Infocenter Free Belarus 2020

8:00 am TUT.BY Today is Solidarity Day in Belarus. All over the country people are showing their unity. Private companies have declared a day-off and many other people are not going to work. Many companies have called it a “clean-up day” on their websites and social media, or openly express their support of Solidarity Day and condemn the unlawful actions of the authorities. 

9:00 am Traditionally, September 1st is the start of the new academic year in Belarus. Festive events usually take place at schools on this day throughout the country. The Ministry of Education earlier suggested cancelling the festivities in order to avoid any provocations. On social media, parents were suggesting not giving flowers to the teachers and openly raised the issue of falsification of elections with them. This relates to the fact that many polling stations in the election were schools, which were staffed by teachers. Many teachers were therefore complicit in vote-rigging and the attitude of Belarusians to teachers has subsequently reflected this. 

9:20 am TUT.BY readers report that Lubov Kovalchuk has been kidnapped by unidentified men in the centre of Minsk. Lubov Kovalchuk is a well-known activist – she was an observer on election day and recorded violations at the polling station at Minsk school No 61. 

Another member of the Coordination Council, Vasily Polyakov, has been detained in Gomel.  

9:40 am Unidentified men in masks apprehended a young lady near the Belarusian National Technical University. She was collecting signatures in support of the students’ petition, which makes the following demands: 

• Lukashenko’s resignation
• An end to violence and brutality, and a full and thorough investigation into and punishment of all those guilty of atrocities against civilians
• The immediate release of all political prisoners and people detained during demonstrations, and the ceasing of all persecution on political grounds
• The resignation of the Central Election Committee 
• Conducting of free, fair and transparent elections with independent observers. 

NEXTA: Once the signatures are collected, it is planned that the students from all Universities will march in a column to the Ministry of Education and demand the Education Minister come out to talk to them. 

9:50 am Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya gave an interview to the Lithuanian radio station, LRT: “Lukashenko has no moral right to put himself forward as a candidate in a new presidential election because people do not forgive his crimes”. 

She did not exclude the possibility that if the current authorities fail to enter into dialogue with people, European countries may have to step in as an intermediary.

10:00 am Students with white-red-white flags have gathered near the Belarusian National Technical University, and some of them are being detained. The students have now started marching towards the Ministry of Education. 

10:07 am The Belarusian State Academy of Music has blocked admission to senior students.  Now only freshmen are allowed in.

10:20 am Students of the Minsk National Linguistic University signed the petition against the falsification of the recent elections and violence against peaceful protesters. They say, “Remember: Belarus is all of us”. 

10:37 am Near Belarusian National Technical University in Minsk, masked people arrested a girl collecting signatures for a petition. 

10:45 am Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei arrived at the Minsk State Linguistic University. University students asked him to sign the petition for fair elections, but he refused.

10:55 am According to the readers of tut.by, some building work has begun on Independence Square – a fence has been installed and a crane has been moved there. 

10:59 am  Archbishop Tadevuš Kandrusievič has sent a letter to the State Border Committee of Belarus, in which he asks for an explanation as to why he is not being allowed into the country. Border control has still not commented on the situation. 

11:13 am Students of Belarusian National Technical University and Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics are walking along Independence Avenue with national flags and posters: they are asked to disperse. 

11:30 am Students of the Belarusian State Technological University took to Sverdlov Street, chanting « Long live Belarus! »

11:32 am The Minsk State Linguistic University, to which the students are headed, has been cordoned off by security officials – three buses with riot police arrived and blocked the road. 

11:36 am In a Minsk courtyard, the police and employees of municipal services have again tried to paint over a mural depicting DJs Vlad Sokolovsky and Kirill Galanov, who famously played the song « Peremen » (« Change ») at one of the pre-election rallies. However, the locals immediately washed off the fresh paint.

11:40 am @Euroradio journalists who were livestreaming from the student demonstration were detained in order to check their accreditation. 

11:42 am OMON blocked the road in front of a column of students on Victory Square.  Students chant « We are walking! » and « This is our city. »  Several dozen people have already been arrested.

12:08 pm In an exclusive interview for tut.by, Pavel Latushko said that the creation of the « Together » political party by Maria Kolesnikova and members of Viktor Babariko’s headquarters was news to him. He stated that the program of the newly formed party is still unclear, and that he plans to remain a member of the Coordinating Council, but has no plans to join the party.

The main difference between the party and the Coordination Council, as he stressed, is that the party seeks to come to power, and the goal of the Constitutional Council is to unite society as much as possible, and provide a democratic platform in the State.

12:15 pm People gather around the entrance to the MZKT factory. Already more than two dozen are gathered, and more are still arriving. A helicopter is flying over the parking lot.

12:38 pm There are already more than 50 people near the MZKT. A policeman came with a megaphone and asked them to disperse. People are chanting « Go away! » A man in civilian clothing is walking around and filming the faces of the protesters.

12:40 pm At the building of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, students also went out protesting. The main reason is the unexpected dismissal of the University Rector Alina Korbut.

12:45 pm According to the official representative of the Main Internal Affairs Directorate Natalya Ganusevich, the protesting students “are not kidnapped, … the police officers introduce themselves and explain the reasons for the arrest. »

1:00 pm More than 50 people started a performance next to the Academy of Arts in Minsk. The participants’ mouths are sealed with black tape. Their posters read: “Violence cannot strangle the truth”, “Silence means consent?” Many of the participants are wearing black clothes because “this day is blackened”. 

1:10 pm Svetlana Tsikhanauskaya spoke sharply about the newly created party of Viktor Babariko’s headquarters and its ideas. “First, I strongly disagree with the statement that we could not win the elections. Everyone knows that this is not the case. We have won, but they are trying to steal our victory. That is why people went out to protest.”

She also noted that constitutional reform in Belarus is not a priority task, and first the demands of citizens must be heard and fulfilled, and then the reforms, which are possible only after fair elections, must be implemented.

1:14 pm Students are walking in line across Victory Square, chanting “Sasha, you’re expelled!”

1:27 pm Lukashenko commented on the sanctions of the Baltic states:

“They were given a command to attack, and they leaped from under the fence. I don’t want this to happen in Belarus, but it will turn out to be so. Look at the powerful, three times richer Ukraine, the pearl of the Soviet Union, in what condition is it now?  Did things improve after they turned towards the West? And the Belarusians will be even worse off,” said Lukashenko.

1:30 pm There are already more than 100 people near the MZKT. A white bus pulled up, and people in civilian clothing jumped out. They approached the crowd and gave people 2 minutes to leave the site.

1:35 pm Lukashenko also spoke about the ban on entry to Belarus for Archbishop Tadevuš Kandrusievič. He stated that the Archbishop was put on the list of people denied entry to Belarus and Russia, and added: “We don’t care who he is – the main Catholic, the main Orthodox, or the main Muslim. He must obey the law. And if you get mixed up in politics and drag the believers with you, then you bear double responsibility.”

A reminder: Article No. 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus reads: “Citizens of the Republic of Belarus have the right to freely move and choose their place of residence within the Republic of Belarus, leave the country and freely return back.”

1:50 pm The student march in Minsk continues, the majority are gathered between the Academy of Sciences and Yakub Kolas Square; more and more people are joining.

2:00 pm New currency exchange rates:

US dollar – 2,6393 rubles.

Euro – 3,1607 rubles.

Russian ruble (100) – 3.5862 rubles.

2:10 pm Radio Svoboda journalists, who were streaming student protests, reported that they were forced to stop the live broadcast due to Internet interruptions in the center of Minsk.

2:43 pm Belarusian National Technological University students sitting nearby, but not involved in, today’s protest report that they are not allowed out from one of the buildings. The doors are closed, people are not allowed out of the building.

2:45 pm Lukashenko believes that due to the influence of certain mass media, many things are seen in a somewhat exaggerated light – the number of participants in mass events is incorrectly represented. According to him, reliable calculation methods indicate that the data is distorted.

2:50 pm People of Minsk bring water and food to a column of protesting students.

2:55 pm The column of students turned onto Yanka Kupala Street. At least four buses with security forces and several police cars were waiting for them there. The young people stood in chains, shouting “We are not afraid.” The security forces set up cordons to prevent demonstrators from entering the presidential residence.

3:00 pm Victor Babariko’s (one of the candidates in the past presidential elections) headquarters explained yesterday’s video announcing the creation of the party « Together »:

👉Video with Viktor Babariko himself was recorded in advance, on June 14. The ex-candidate is still in prison.

👉 Babariko’s words in the video saying “we could not win the election” are not a recognition of the legitimacy of the past presidential election.

👉“Today, no one doubts that we are in the majority and that we have won. Not a single Belarusian doubts Svetlana Tsikhanauskaya’s victory, and that her victory was stolen. Due to numerous violations and falsifications, the victory was stolen, and we see the need for a new fair election,” the headquarters said.

👉Creating the party « Together » will not affect the work of the Coordination Council. The Council remains a single platform for dialogue. « Together » members will participate in the Coordinating Council’s work and contribute to resolving the internal political crisis through dialogue.

👉Viktor Babariko’s team supports Svetlana Taikhanauskaya and the requirements voiced by the Coordination Council.

👉Also, the party « Together » will seek to change the constitution, limit the number of presidential terms, establish a clear separation of powers and transparent fair elections.

3:04 pm The Coordination Council secretary Ivan Kravtsov, the business school headmaster Pavel Daineka and the website owner of the movement “For Freedom” Yury Gubarevich have been summoned for questioning to the Investigative Committee at 10 am tomorrow, September 2nd.

3:05 pm The human rights center « Viasna », unregistered in Belarus, reports that the names of at least 16 people, detained in Minsk during today’s students protest, are known. Among them are students, teachers and journalists.pa

3:16 pm The official representative of the Orthodox Church in Belarus, Sergiy Lepin, supported the Catholics and wrote an emotional post on Facebook, where he wished them a safe resolution of the “current unthinkable situation” and called for “preventing the escalation of the interconfessional situation in our country”.

3:18 pm Trucks covered with tarpaulin, with inscriptions “Люди” (“People”), and prisoner wagons, started driving up to the main entrance of the Ministry of Education. Three buses and police cars remained stationed there as well. So far, no students have been seen around the ministry.

3:23 pm Police stopped a column of protesting students in Nemiga district. Students tried to break through the cordon.

3:24 pm The presidium member of the Coordination Council, Olga Kovalkova, who is serving an administrative sentence in a pre-trial detention center in Zhodino, is being pressured further. We were informed that on Wednesday (September 2nd), she will be visited by the investigators from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, working on a criminal case against the representatives of the Kyrgyz Republic. Kovalkova will be questioned as a witness. According to the press service of the Coordination Council, Kovalkova’s lawyer will insist on his presence during the interrogation.

3:36 pm The Ministry of Education commented that each university’s administration must decide independently whether students, who attended the rally, must be expelled, depending on each case.

“When the police send in the paperwork, then it will be decided,” the department explained.

3:57 pm According to Nexta, almost all the students, who were detained on Victory Square this morning, have been released.

4:00 pm Minister Igor Karpenko has just left the building of the Ministry of Education. The TUT.BY journalist approached him with a question, asking him to comment on what is happening among students today. The minister just walked by.

4:07 pm Students broke through the cordon on Independence Avenue.

4:10 pm Today the FC “Krumkachi Minsk” players, two of whom were arrested during the protests in Minsk, are playing in t-shirts “We are against violence”.

4:17 pm According to the Belsat correspondent, right now the OMON are beating the protesting students and pushing them into cars.

4:25 pm Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius rejected the accusations of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Lithuania behaves undemocratically with the Belarusian opposition candidate Svetlana Tsikhanauskaya. He agreed that Lithuania has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and though it provided Tsikhanauskaya with protection, Lithuania did not interfere with her activities and did not influence her.

4:30 pm The employees and graduates of the Lyceum of Belarusian State University formed a solidarity chain near the school. Among them is a former director of the Lyceum Makar Shnip.

4:32 pm The brutal detentions of students began on the streets of Kirov and Sverdlov, where the student march is taking place, bypassing Independence Square. The OMON commanded people to get out of the way, and harshly pushed away women trying to take guys back from them.

4:35 pm The UN human rights experts have announced that 450 cases of torture were observed during the protests in Belarus. According to the organization, the relatives of at least six people do not know about the whereabouts and health status of their loved ones. The UN claims to have information about cases of violence against children and women, including sexual violence.

4:40 pm The October court in Mogilev reconsidered the case against freelance journalists Alina Skrabunova and Alexander Sidarevsky. They are accused of cooperation with Belsat.

Judge Olga Kravchenko postponed the reconsideration of the case in order to ask the police to provide the video evidence that on the 18th of July the journalists held a rally in support of Svetlana Tsikhanauskaya.

4:55 pm Graduates and employees of the Belarusian Academy of Arts issued an open letter.

“Today, people have a pain in their souls due to the events of the recent weeks, and we cannot stand aside and fail to react to the acute political crisis in our country,” the letter says.

5:04 pm According to Nexta, there was a mass detention of journalists after the students’ march. The representatives of TUT.by, Belapan, RIA, « Komsomolskaya Pravda » and other publications are known to have been detained by the security forces.

5:10 pm According to Radio Svaboda, among students who were detained this morning, there are people with disabilities and a number of chronic diseases (like diabetes mellitus – one girl needs an injection of insulin; her current condition is not known). It seems like young people are being taken to the Akrestsin detention center.

5:22 pm Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s headquarters calls on the authorities to stop putting pressure on the Coordination Council.

“The reason for what is happening in Belarus is not at all in the Coordination Council, but in the unwillingness of a person who lost the election to recognize the will of the people and leave his post. People have lost trust and respect for him, and he will no longer be able to rule the country. The Coordinating Council was created in order to agree on ways out of the political crisis,” the appeal says.

5:34 pm On Independence Avenue in Minsk, where students broke through the cordon, clashes between the protesters and OMON began again.

5:35 pm The human rights center « Viasna » informs that the names of 53 people arrested today are known to them.

5:40 pm Security officers and minibuses appeared near the Lyceum of the Belarusian State University. People dispersed from the place of the protest, several were detained.

5:45 pm The account of “Mint-Media” company, which publishes KYKY.org, has been blocked. The decision was made by the Financial Investigation Department of the KGB. Apparently, it is due to a criminal case brought against the co-founder of KYKY Sasha Vasilevich.

5:50 pm TUT.by learned the story of 53-year-old Alexander Budnitsky: he was last seen on the morning of August 11, then disappeared and did not come to work. His co-workers raised the alarm, reported a missing person to the police, and on Monday, August 31, they found out that Budnitsky is no longer alive: his body was found near the shopping center « Riga ».

“On the indicated dates, the facts of the death near the shopping center “Riga” are not registered until other information is available,” said Yekaterina Garlinskaya, an official representative of the Investigative Committee in Minsk, when asked by journalists to clarify when and where the man’s body was found, and why the death was not reported for so long.

6:22 pm About a hundred people have gathered at Independence Square in Minsk, with more still arriving. Police are cordoning off the Red Church. 

6:24 pm At the moment, there are about 400 protesters at an ongoing rally near the Belarus Hi-Tech Park.

6:30 pm In Minsk, Belarusian State Medical University students are forming a solidarity chain at Pyatrowshchyna metro station.

6:51 pm Today, Belarusian State University students had a meeting with the vice-rector Ivan Yanushevich, who reassured them that those who participate in peaceful rallies would not be expelled unless they break the law. However, Mr Yanushevich could not guarantee that none of the university students will be arrested during peaceful demonstrations.

6:58 pm In Minsk, a group of at least 70 women have formed a solidarity chain near the Red Church, singing “Warriors of the Light” (a popular song by Belarusian band Lyapis Trubetskoy). A policeman with a loudspeaker is urging them to disperse, while another is filming the protesters.

7:00 pm According to Reuters, the US government will consider issuing sanctions against Russia if the country decides to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus. The US administration also intends to sanction seven Belarusians who allegedly took part in vote rigging.

7:10 pm The bells of the Red Church are ringing. The crowd at Independence Square is chanting “Long live Belarus!” and “Go away!”, while the police are urging them to disperse via a loudspeaker installed on the Minsk City Executive Committee building. There are currently 250-300 people in the square.

Near the church, people are holding up posters saying “Hands off Tadevuš Kandrusievič”. Kandrusievič, the Archbishop of Minsk and Magilow, was denied from entering Belarus on August 31st despite being a citizen.

7:14 pm Near the fountain, the protesters are singing “Mury”, a song based on the anthem of the Polish Solidarity movement that is popular with protesters. Meanwhile, two police detention vans have arrived at Independence Square. People are chanting: “One for all and all for one!”

7:19 pm The National Coordination Council press service commented on the recent police searches in the home of one of its members, Liliya Vlasova. The Department of Financial Investigations had instigated criminal proceedings concerning the activist’s son, who is a co-founder of a company that allegedly committed tax fraud. During the search, the police confiscated electronic devices, equipment and documents.

According to the Council, on Monday night Vlasova’s lawyer said that she would remain in custody for 72 hours. After that, the police will decide on further measures of restraint. Her status in terms of the investigation is currently unknown.

7:29 pm The women at Independence Square are singing “Kupalinka”, a popular Belarusian folk song. They have formed a circle around the men to protect them from police. 

More people are forming solidarity chains in the streets all over Minsk, including Serebryanka, Loshitsa and Frunzensky neighborhoods.

7:39 pm The Baltic countries’ decision to stop purchasing energy from Belarus after the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant is finished does not concern Minsk. According to the Belarusian Minister of Economics Aleksandr Chervyakov, the power plant was built mainly to decrease the country’s own dependency on natural gas imports.

Earlier, the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy announced that all three Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) are close to an agreement over boycotting the energy supply from the Astravets plant.

7:40 pm In an apparent attempt to drown out chants and keep demonstrators at Independence Square from communicating with each other, Minsk city authorities played loud Soviet era music via the speakers that they had installed earlier. The people, however, did not seem to object: they danced in pairs and circles and played games. When the speakers went silent, voices could be heard from the crowd asking to turn the music back on.

8:30 pm In an interview published on the Red Church website, bishop Yuri Kasabutski, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mogilev, stated that the situation developing around the church is unacceptable. He stated that “it is obvious that the authorities are trying to put pressure on the church, which means persecution is taking place, although no one is talking about it”. He then drew parallels with religious persecution during the Soviet era, adding that “everyone was also silent back then, although the crackdowns were quite violent”.

8:50 pm There were no arrests after the rally at Independence Square in Minsk.

9:09 pm Stef Blok, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, urged the Belarusian authorities to establish a dialogue with the opposition.

9:09 pm UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over reports of torture against people who were arrested during peaceful protests in Belarus and called on the government to respect the right of its citizens to openly express their opinions.

9:15 pm Nadezhda Kalinina, a journalist for TUT.BY who was arrested earlier today, reported that she and six of her colleagues are to spend the night at the Oktyabrsky district police department. It is unknown whether there is a case open against them. Due to concerns over Nadezhda’s health, the police allowed her to receive necessary medication from the outside.

9:22 pm In city streets all over Belarus, people are still marching. The protesters are trying to stick together in large groups, singing Belarusian songs, holding up banners and flags. During these 24 turbulent days the protests have never stopped.

9:31 pm Reporter Alies Sabalieuski of “Mogilevsky region” has been sentenced to 8 days in jail for participating in unauthorized protest rallies. He subsequently went on a hunger strike. Police arrested Sobolevsky on August 30th, when he was working a live broadcast at a protest march in Mogilev. The reporter’s whereabouts remained unknown for the next 24 hours. His colleagues only found out about his arrest on the evening of August 31st.