Protests in Belarus: 3,000 Detained, Calls for Strikes

The situation by the middle of the first day after the elections.

In the morning, data appeared on the first people injured in the protests. After a crowd of protesters was hit by a vehicle, three people received serious injuries, and one was killed. Later, the Interior Ministry of Belarus said that the information about the dead person did not correspond to reality. Although the media had earlier managed to identify him as Yevgeny Zaichkin, a resident of Minsk, Belsat found out that he is alive and has already spoken with him.

Police and OMON riot officers used various means in confrontations with protesters, from water cannons to stun grenades. One person was taken to a Minsk hospital with a torn-off toe, and signs of the clashes could also be seen on the walls of buildings.

Closer to 9 a.m., the Central Election Commission of Belarus reported preliminary election data, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won more than 82% of the vote. At the headquarters of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the results are not being recognized.

At the same time, commissions at some polling stations in Belarus reported Tikhanovskaya's victory over Lukashenko by a huge margin. Yesterday, Radio Liberty reported that the opposition politician had also won by a margin at polling stations abroad.

At 12 p.m., the Interior Ministry of Belarus announced the detention of 3,000 people during yesterday's protests. Of them, 1,000 were detained in Minsk and another 2,000 in other cities of Belarus. Law enforcement agencies also reported 50 injured among civilians and 39 among police.

In addition, in Belarus calls have begun to organize strikes at state-owned enterprises. Workers at the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant (BMZ) announced a work stoppage, calling on employees of other enterprises to support them in this action.

Later, Alexander Lukashenko gave his first reaction to the election results and the mass protests. He made it clear that yesterday's unrest was the result of the work of foreign "puppeteers," and reported an order for the military to evacuate members of 33 election commissions.

Alexander Lukashenko
President of Belarus

We have recorded calls from abroad. There were calls from Poland, Great Britain and the Czech Republic. They were controlling our, excuse me, sheep. They do not understand what they are doing, and they are already starting to be controlled by them.

Meanwhile, the election results have already been recognized in China, Kazakhstan and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed in a statement that the election results in the country "far from everyone agrees", calling on the government to enter into dialogue with the protesters.