On Sunday, August 16, more than 200,000 people came to the streets of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, protesting against Alexander Lukashenko. The population of Minsk is around 2 million people - that is some 10% of Minsk's citizens took part in the demonstration. Apart from that, massive crowds gathered to protest in other cities across Belarus.
Mr. Lukashenko also met his supporters in Minsk that same day. To organize the demonstration, Lukashenko had to bring his followers from all over the country. According to the President, some 50,000 people came to support him on Sunday. Meanwhile, independent observers talk about only 30,000. Later that day, more than 200,000 protesters flooded the same street.
What do Belarusian protesters demand? They want a transparent election to be held and Lukashenko to resign. A huge number of Belarusian citizens do not trust the results of the election that took place on August 9. They believe in the victory of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Now, it is hardly possible to unravel the truth. Based on various data, around 40% of votes for Lukashenko were fabricated in early voting. Despite this fact, he also did not win by fair count. Independent observers were totally prevented from observing the election as well as the vote count. Moreover, the election commissions did not reveal the results as required by the law, but ran away from polling stations covered by police.
In addition, Lukashenko made another terrible mistake: people in all Belarusian cities went on peaceful demonstrations in order to demand fair vote count. Then, Lukashenko sent police to arrest peaceful protesters who in their turn, also used stun grenades, rubber bullets, and truncheons against civilians. Up to 7,000 people were arrested in three days of protest. People, even those who tried not to resist, were severely beaten both on the streets and already in prison. Two people died.
That sparked a wave of public protests.
Apart from that, a huge number of factories have come out on a strike since Monday, August 17.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a potential winner of the election, was forced to leave the country and is now in Lithuania.
Even state television companies are expected to join the strike today.
If the strike becomes nationwide, Lukashenko will be forced to leave.
Interestingly, Lukashenko has already twice turned to Putin for help.
The fact is that Lukashenko is afraid that with the intervention of Russian troops, he will no longer be able to control the situation and lose independence.
In general, the crisis in Belarus is escalating.
