Protest in Belarus 2020

Where is Belarus?

 Belarus was the part of Russia.Belarus got Independence from USSR in 1991.Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.

What The News is??

Tens of thousand of Belarusian have gathered in capital city Minsk for the biggest protest of the country's history.

A week after the country's ruler Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have secured 80% of the votes in the Presidential election and his opposition candidate get very less vote.His legitimacy is in tatters and his regime faces its biggest crisis.

Background:

The 2020 Belarusian protests also nicknamed as slipper Revolution and Anti-Cockroach Revolution.The movement was initiated by businessman Siarhei Tisikhanouski. He compared Alexander Lukashenko to the Cockroach in the poem The Monster Cockroach (in this poem fragile insect and his brief, chaotic reign of terror over all other animals.In this poem cockroach is eaten by a sparrow, while Siarhei Tisikhanouski refers to a slipper signifying stamping on the cockroach.

                                                     (Hit the cockroach with slippers)

Political demonstrations against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko.

The demonstrations are part of the Belarusian democracy movement and began in the lead up to and during the 2020 presidential election.

Alexander Lukashenko has been the Head of the state since 1994 a 26 year tenure longest in erstwhile Soviet union.

He also regarded as "Europe's last dictator" .In his authoritarian rule, the government has frequently muzzled the opposition. 

The Movement was initiated by businessman Siarhei Tsikhanouski.

Siarhei Tsikhanouski was detained in late May 2020 by authorities and was accused of being a foreign agent.

In June 2020, street protest against Lukashenko took place as several opposition candidates who registered for the 2020 Presidential election were arrested.

Siarhei Tsikhanouski wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouski registered as a candidate against Lukashenko after Siarhei Tsikhanouski was detained.

In July 2020 a permitted rally of presidential candidate Sviatlana took place in the Friendship of people Park in Minsk where approx 63,000-70,000 people gathered.She also said to media that she is getting positive response from people and hoping to win election and brought democracy in the country.

ON ELECTION DAY:

On August 2020 election took place .

All roads and entry points to Minks were blocked by the police and army in the morning.In afternoon  Internet in Belarus shutdown or blocked and in the evening of the election day immediately after the close of polling stations the Government sponsored TV aired exit poll results showing a supposed landslide in which Lukashenko got 80.23% of  the vote, while Sviatlana received only 9.9% votes and get landslide victory of Lukashenko.

There was immediate reaction by supporters of Tsikhanouski thousand headed to the streets in all major cities of Belarus such as Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno, Pinsk, Gomel, and babruysk. Initially protests was peaceful but the protest turned into fight between some people and the authorities. Eventually security force arrested around 3,000 people overnight.Some of the protesters were injured and many of them were in critical condition and one of the protesters died.

The Aftermath:

Demonstrations in solidarity with the Belarusian opposition have been held in more than 20 countries and in more than 30 cities around the world. Lukashenko has clearly said, he has no intentions of giving up the power and suggested NATO force were preparing to attack on Belarus and also said that Russian Vladimir Putin has offered to provide help in accordance with a collective military pact if necessary.

Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya has fled to neighboring country Lithuania after realizing threat of her life  and called on on Belarusian to continue protest until we won't get democracy.

Future of the country:

The country seems to be heading towards a civil war. The best solution as an immediate goal is to ensure a transitional administration (As Armenia did) to pave the way for a new presidential election with international monitoring.