On the evening of October 25 in Minsk, during a mass protest against Alexander Lukashenko, three employees of the security forces of Belarus broke into the apartment of a local resident, when the protesters were hiding there. Videos about it appeared in the storys instagram-accounts _tacoshetaco_, the first to focus on movie drew “Radio Liberty”.
Attention. The video shows scenes of violence and there is profanity. We ask sensitive people not to watch it.https://www.youtube.com/embed/vZs8-VGh7Vc?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&showinfo=0&color=whiteIn Minsk, Interior Ministry officers are looking for protesters in apartmentsMeduza
“I don’t touch the woman,” he said. The men are on their way out, ”one of the officers said in the video with a baton in his hands, whose face was hidden by a black mask, after which several men left the apartment, and one remained in the room. The way to the masked man was blocked by one of the women present, who turned to him: “Please, don’t, go away. Please, don’t, please. I am a mother of four sons. ” The security officer promised that he would not touch her, after which he said: “I will take him with or without pain.” He stepped over the woman, went up to the remaining man, demanded that he stand up, and hit him with a truncheon. Those present began to shout, and the woman again asked the masked man not to touch people and promised to go home, after which he threatened to spray pepper gas. This video ends.
The video was filmed in a house on Novovilenskaya Street in Minsk, Nasha Niva writes . A woman blocking the way for law enforcement officers told Onliner that the protesters got into the apartment when they were running away from the police. On the evening of October 25, on the nearby Orlovskaya Street (leading to the Lukashenka’s residence), the security forces used about 10 flash-noise grenades, and then chased and beat the demonstrators in the courtyards in order to stop the “illegal actions” of the protesters.
In total, about 20-30 protesters were hiding in an apartment on Novovilenskaya Street , who were running away from law enforcement officers. Before the door was closed, one of the employees inserted a truncheon into the crack and then burst in, the owner of the apartment told the Nasha Niva newspaper (her name was not disclosed). According to her, the security forces were in the apartment for about two minutes, after which they left, unable to find three men and one teenager. One of them hid behind the washing machine, the other in the closet, the third behind the sofa, another man was covered by the women in the kitchen, and he was not noticed. According to the owner of the apartment, among those who hid with her was a 12-year-old boy.
A woman who asked the security forces not to take the protesters said that after the incident she was thanked for interfering with the masked people. “For some reason the girls thanked me, but I could not understand why. And now I understand that there are many men left behind me who were not taken away. Even the one who was hit with a stick, ”she said. At the same time, according to her, the security forces detained her husband, who was taken to the detention center in Akrestsin Street, where the protesters are being held.
After the staff in black masks left, the protesters remained in the apartment for about an hour and a half. People sat quietly, turning off the electricity and phones, while the remaining men continued to hide, writes Tut.by, who spoke with those who were in the apartment. “We didn’t leave the apartment, because there were buses on duty under the window, grabbing people, and when cars came to pick up the protesters, the riot police broke their windows,” one of the women said. When it became calmer, the people dispersed.
After the video was published, a reward of $ 1,400 was promised for information about an employee who threatened to pick up a protester “with or without pain”. Subscribers of the telegram channel of the Belarusian photographer Anton Motolko offered to pay this amount . The same evening in the anonymous telegram channel “May Radzima Belarus” a message appeared that this was an officer of the Minsk OMON, Aleksey Talyarenok, but this information was not confirmed by anyone. Three thousand dollars are promised for verification of these data .
In total, at the protest action on October 25, the police of Belarus, according to the official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, detained 523 people in different cities of the country, including 160 people in Minsk.
(c)MEDUZA 2020