Svetlana Tikhanovskaya urged Belarusians to continue their peaceful protest, the text of the appeal was published in the telegram channel of her press service.

Commenting on the protests in Minsk and other Belarusian cities on October 10-11, Tikhanovskaya said that “the regime continues to communicate” with people in the language of violence.

According to her, “it is difficult not to react” to “such actions” (probably, we are talking about dispersing demonstrations), but one must remember that “we are not guilty of this violence, we never provoked it – and this is our strength”.

“Marches, yard actions, blocking of military equipment, as well as of any violence, is a peaceful protest,” her press service quotes Tikhanovskaya. “We do not believe in  dialogue at gunpoint <…> they bargain with their own people, and this only says one thing: we managed to make them listen to us.”

In Belarus on October 11 , according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 713 people were detained at protests . To disperse the demonstrations, the security forces used water cannons and stun grenades. In Minsk, protests continued on the night of October 12, people blocked roads ( for example , with barricades from benches), burned  tires, and heard  shots in different parts of the city  .

First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus Gennady Kazakevich said on October 12 that the protests “became organized and extremely radical.” “The employees of the internal affairs bodies and the servicemen of the internal troops will not leave the streets and, if necessary, will use special means and military weapons,” the press service of the department quotes Kazakevich as saying.

Protests over the results of the presidential elections have been going on in Belarus since August 9.

(C)MEDUZA 2020