2020 has brought more than plague and extreme weather. In Belarus, the people are standing up in hordes to protest again the rigged re-election of its president, Alexander Lukashenko, and the dictatorship he leads. 

Belarus has long stood alongside Russia in their similar authoritarian regimes and as close trade partners- the two countries together comprise the Union State, a small international agreement similar to the EU, but more, well, dictator-y. 

Both Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko have been experiencing more stress upon the maintenance of their regimes, even resorting to true and blatant violence in the poisoning of prominent Russian activist Alexei Navalny. The protests in Russia have largely been ignored in the hope that they would disappear, but Lukashenko has taken to extreme police and state violence against pro-democracy protests. 

Since the protests began in Belarus, over 6,700 people have been arrested, two people have died in police custody, and the government has removed the accreditation of seventeen reporters and journalists working for foreign news outlets. Over 30 cities have had large protests, and the largest of which drew about 200,000 protestors fighting against their oppressive government. After 20 days of protests, the rebellion still continues.

Those in custody and peacefully out on the streets are met with brutality and fear-mongering. Beatings, assault, imprisonment, expulsion from the country, and worse await many of the people who brave the streets to stand up for their and their family’s rights.