12:00 PM Over 300 medical workers signed a petition in response to the open letter of the Minister of Health, Vladimir Karanik, which was published yesterday. The petition states that all the injuries can be assigned to the same cause: “beaten by OMON riot police”. In addition, the police provided no assistance to the injured, and in some cases attempts to provide assistance were actively prevented. The medical workers continue to demand the following:
- To organize full access to the detention centers and prisons for special medical teams of the Ministry of Health.
- To let the doctors who are going to treat the injured take sole responsibility concerning who to admit to the hospital.
- To provide the special medical teams with information about the injured who have received urgent and hospital medical aid.
12:10 PM The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Latvia can acknowledge neither Alexander Lukashenko nor Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as the legitimate president of Belarus. Edgars Rinkēvičs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, said that no one knows the actual election results due to massive electoral fraud and liquidation of voting ballots.He also expressed concern about the fact that the majority of world leaders preferred to discuss the Belarus situation with Moscow instead of Minsk. According to him, this is incorrect, because “there can be no external solutions to the problem, only Belarus from the inside can make one.”
12:30 PM According to local journalists, 2,155 people were arrested in Brest for participation in protests from August 9 to August 16. By August 16, 2,116 of them had already been discharged.In addition, more than 700 people filed complaints to the Investigative Сommittee of being tortured by OMON policemen, in detention centers and prisons.
12:40 PM Belarusian banks report increased public demand for foreign currencies, as well as withdrawals from savings accounts. However, currency exchange is not as high as was recorded in spring.
12:50 PM According to the information provided by NEXTA channel, the authorities of Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) are not letting the strikers out of the factory. The workers complain that they are being threatened and one of them claims to have been beaten. They are asking for external support.
12:55 PM The square near Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) is barricaded – there is only a small point of entry in the center. There is a cordon of OMON policemen wearing helmets, a police van and several white vans with tinted windows in the square.
1:00 PM The Coordination Council formed by the opposition will continue its work regardless of any threats from Lukashenko. Anton Rodnenkov, the Council representative, considers future arrests of Council members to be a possibility.
1:10 PM The Ministry of Labour is threatening strikers with the cancellation of their pensions and other social guarantees if they don’t stop their protests – National newsagency BELTA informs.
1:20 PM Grodno Azot factory workers who are able to leave their workplaces are planning to gather today to discuss the possibility of future strikes and the ceasing of all production until Lukashenko’s resignation. It is hoped that two-thirds of the workers will agree to sign a petition for these demands.
1:25 PM The leaders of EU countries have started an urgent online summit regarding the situation in Belarus.
1:30 PM Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Vladimir Putin, declared that “there is no need for Russian forces to assist Belarus at the moment, and even the Belarusian authorities have confirmed that there is no such need”. Peskov also commented on the rumors regarding Russian military equipment being moved to the Russia-Belarus border.
“Russian military equipment is located all over Russia, so there is nothing to comment on here. »
1:35 PM Sergey Dylevsky, the leader of the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) strike committee, has announced that around 300 strikers have been forced to write leave of absence requests. Today the factory authorities annulled their worker passes, and they are no longer able to enter the factory premises.
1:40 PM Around 200 people have gathered in front of the main building of the Belarusian State University at Independence square in Minsk. Students and professors claim a violation of their right for fair elections and promise to start a strike if the university authorities do not meet their demands and cooperate.
2:00 PM Lukashenko’s personal airplane left Minsk, headed East, came back, landed, took off again, headed West, and came back to Minsk again.
2:30 PM Valeriy Belsky, Assistant to the President of Belarus, said that “there is no need for widespread criticism of the Belarusian police system in general; there is a need to investigate all individual cases thoroughly. » This is a response to the many claims of torture and beatings of protestors by OMON riot police.
2:40 PM People who participated in pro-Lukashenko protests yesterday in Gomel, Mogilev, and Kopyl, confessed that they were forced to participate due to bribery and threats. Many claimed that if they didn’t participate they were told they would be fired from their workplaces and expelled from their dormitories. Pro-Lukashenko actions are planned to be held today and tomorrow in many more Belarus cities, including Minsk, Borisov and Vitebsk.
2:50 PM Around 500 Grodno Azot factory workers have finished their meeting. As a result, a strike is declared until the resignation of Lukashenko.
3:00 PM Lukashenko ordered the Ministries of Interior and Defence to stop all the protests as soon as possible. “The people are tired, they want peace and quiet” – he said.
3:05 PM Employees of Minsk State Philharmonic Society have come to support Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) strikers. They are singing traditional Belarusian songs.
3:10 PM Lukashenko made a phone call to Putin asking him to tell Angela Merkel not to interfere in Belarus’ problems.
3:15 PM Strikes continue all over Belarus.Gomel: Belarus Metal factory workers are planning to start striking on August 20 as long as they collect the signatures of two-thirds of the factory employees.Grodno: Employees of the construction factory “Grodnozhilstroy” complain that they have been told that they can start a strike only in 2 weeks and claim that the majority of workers lack relevant legal knowledge and support.Novopolotsk: The workers of Naftan, the biggest Belarusian oil processing factory, are collecting signatures under a petition that consists of 6 “global demands”. If the demands are not fulfilled, a strike is planned for August 29.Brest: The employees of the “Gefest” factory continue striking.Soligorsk: Belaruskali authorities are reported to be suggesting that the workers file anonymous complaints against those who prevent the factory work process.
3:50 PM The Coordination Council formed by the opposition has announced the names of their board members. They are:- Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel laureate in Literature- Olga Kovalkova, authorised representative of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya- Maria Kalesnikacva, coordinator of the headquarters of ex-presidential candidate Viktor Babaryka- Pavel Latushko, former director of the National Yanka Kupala theatre- Maksym Znak, the lawyer of Tikhanovskaya- Sergey Dylevsky, the leader of the strike committee of Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ)- Liliya Vlasova, lawyer, mediator.
4:10 PM The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, has declared that, according to the results of the urgent online summit of the EU leaders, the elections in Belarus couldn’t be acknowledged as legitimate. She stated that the EU stands in solidarity with the peaceful demonstrators and urges the Belarusian authorities to stop violence and start a dialogue with the opposition. She also suggested that OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) could be an important mediator in this dialogue.
4:20 PM Merkel said that she tried to organize a phone call with Alexander Lukashenko, but he refused to talk. Therefore the German Chancellor said that she is not able to mediate in the dialogue with Belarus.
4:25 PM As mentioned by Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, the whole council declares that new elections should be held in Belarus. The EU is going to use sanctions against those who violated human rights and fabricated the election results in Belarus. Also, the possibility of including Lukashenko on the sanctions list is being discussed.
