#support belarus

My husband was jailed for daring to run against our president, so I ran in his place.

This is a story of  Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a woman who actually won the election in Belarus. This a story of Belarusian nation fighting for democracy. 

Today Lukashenka secretly held his own inauguration without any warning. He did it because he is afraid. He did it, because if people knew about it, thousands would go to his palace, just as they do every single week, proving to him, that he is not our President any more. They are doing it right this second - and getting detained for it. 

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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Просто горжусь нашей маленькой страной. Один за всех и все за одного.

Poles remember how hard it is to fight for true freedom. We won ours. Now it's time for you. We support you and believe you will succeed.

Support Belarus protest in Old Town Square, Prague.

We stand with you, we all are praying for you. Freedom and democracy are not free and we know it. Keep fighting!

news source dated 31 October 2020

Facing a run on the national currency amid the unrest, the Belarusian government has spent $1.5 billion, or about one-fifth of the nation’s hard currency reserves, to shore up the Belarusian ruble in August and September.

“The economy is becoming Lukashenko’s main enemy,” said Minsk-based analyst Valery Karbalevich. “Lukashenko needs money to pay workers for their loyalty and law enforcement officers for their brutality. His regime is quickly running out of cash and losing support,”

Faced with the opposition’s ultimatum and the threat of a nationwide strike, Belarus on Thursday shut its borders with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine for most visitors. Lukashenko also reshuffled his top officials this week, appointing Interior Minister Yuri Karayev and Security Council Secretary Valery Vakulchik his envoys to the westernmost Grodno and Brest regions bordering Poland and Lithuania.

Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser Franak Viachorka, argued that the shakeup reflected Lukashenko’s nervousness.

“Lukashenko can’t trust local authorities in western regions, and so he has to put his trusted law enforcement officials in charge there,” Viachorka said.

Viachorka also argued that the reshuffle may reflect Lukashenko’s fear that his main ally and sponsor, Russia, could be talking to his top lieutenants behind his back.

The Kremlin has backed Lukashenko amid Western pressure and provided a $1.5-billion loan to help refinance Belarus’ debt to Russia. But many observers believe that Moscow could reach out quietly to Lukashenko’s entourage on a possible successor as his authority crumbles.

“Lukashenko has failed to quash the protests in nearly three months, and that shows the scale of discontent in the country and pushes the Kremlin to search for new scenarios and partners in Belarus,” Karbalevich said. “It opens a window of opportunity for the opposition to hold talks with Moscow, which until that moment has refused to talk to Tsikhanouskaya and her team.”

Viachorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser, said that the opposition will continue pushing for the creation of parallel structures of power, “exacerbating the crisis of legitimacy for Lukashenko” and pushing him into talks on a transition of power.

news source dated 06 November 2020

E.U. headquarters said in a statement that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was put on the sanctions list along his son and national security adviser, Viktor Lukashenko.

The sanctions ban listed individuals from traveling within the European Union and a freeze on their assets. E.U. citizens and companies also are forbidden from providing them with funds....

In its sanctions listing, the E.U. said that Lukashenko "is responsible for the violent repression by the State apparatus carried out before and after the 2020 presidential election, in particular with the dismissal of key opposition candidates, arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment of peaceful demonstrators as well as intimidation and violence against journalists."