Lukashenko fails to stop protests once again
By Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Minsk
Sunday's rally had several phases. The first was the tense and uncertain. Security forces had used razor wire to close off the obvious gathering points, Minsk's main monuments and squares, and were standing guard behind them. Would-be protesters stood awkwardly on street corners wondering where and when the march would start. Those in small groups were vulnerable and we watched as a man holding the outlawed red and white flag of the opposition was dragged into a car by security officers and driven away. Then, as the numbers grew, there were nervy stand-offs near Independence Square. As they grew in confidence the demonstrators approached, berating the riot police at the barricades that now blocked the road.At about four in the afternoon the crowd swelled exponentially as people marched out of the centre. This was no longer the brave early arrivals, it was Belarusians young and old. Some were in fancy dress, others wearing clothes that directly mocked the riot police, the Omon.There were families, children, dogs - someone even brought a goose. It's hard to estimate numbers of this size from the ground but I'd say there were at least 100,000, possibly many more. For the fourth Sunday in a row President Lukashenko's attempts to stop the protest against him failed.
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"We are definitely not ready to get back to the life we had for many years now," she said. "We finally feel like we matter because we've been living in apathy for way too long and now we just have this feeling of solidarity and we actually think that - well, I feel personally that - changes already are happening so that's definitely not the time to give up." [ One protester in Minsk who gave her name as Lyudmila told BBC News the demonstrators were undeterred by the security forces. ]
