Protesters lined up in the "chain of solidarity" and tried to block the roads

How the fourth (most calm) night of protests in Belarus went

On the fourth day, protest promotions of disagreements with the results of the elections of the President of Belarus became more calm and small. The demonstrators slightly changed the tactics and form of protests, and the police and the military seemed less actively (especially in comparison with the confrontations of August 9 and 10 ) reacted to this.

In the morning of August 12, in the most popular Belarusian opposition telegram channel Nexta Live, a call to block roads throughout the country was extended-to interfere with the promotion of military special equipment. However, the example of the Minsk women who lined up in a live chain near the Komarovsky market turned out to be more contagious. Thus, they expressed solidarity with protesters who suffered from riot police. Soon they were called the Belarusian media, the “chains of solidarity” appeared throughout Minsk, as well as in Grodno, Baranovichi, Zhlobin, Slutsk, Dzerzhinsk, Soligorsk, Pinsk, Maryina Gorka, Fanipol, Ivatsevichs, Osipovichi and other cities. Women with children and flowers in their hands lined up along the highways or moved by processions along the streets.

A similar action took place near the medical university on Dzerzhinsky Avenue, where more than 200 doctors gathered. The Minister of Health of Belarus Vladimir Karanik even came out to them, who, however, then called this protest a “clearly directed event”. After the action, a resuscitator Bogdan Shilnikovsky was detained . The Minsk police did not interfere with the participants of the “chains of solidarity”, even, for example, built at the Pushkinskaya metro station, where the last days passed mass clashes of demonstrators and special forces. However, other demonstrators gathered nearby were nevertheless detained .

By the evening of Wednesday evening, protesters (and drivers who joined them) began to carry out the declared tactics and in small groups blocked the roads in different parts of Minsk, including in the Grushevka, Malinovka, Serebryanka, Uruchye microdistricts. They were accelerated by traffic police officers, as well as special forces who used light -school grenades.

The Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported two cases of collision with traffic police officers. One occurred in Minsk at the intersection of Melnikayati Street and Prospekt Poblitelov. The driver tried to leave, but he was detained using a service weapon. Another case occurred in Baranavichy. The attacker was stopped, shooting the wheel, but he himself managed to hide. The department also reported on the detention of two manufacturers of Molotov cocktails.

On Wednesday, many residents of Minsk supported demonstrators from the balconies of their apartments. In Grushevka, this almost led to real danger. There, riot police drove into the courtyard of a residential building, pursuing one of the protesters, and shot towards the balconies . When it was completely dark in the city, in the sleeping areas, residents massively chanted the slogans against the current president Alexander Lukashenko.

On the evening of August 12, videos began to actively spread in telegram channels, in which former fighters of the Belarusian special forces throw their uniforms into the trash in protest against the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in the country. At the same time, several TV presenters from the State Unitary Enterprise announced their dismissal.

Alexander Filimonov