Lukashenko crushed Belomaidan
Saturday's attempt by Belarusian oppositionists to take revenge for the sluggish celebration of the nationalist Freedom Day also failed.
This time, a network of telegram channels coordinated from Poland, awakening from winter hibernation, got involved in the matter. Let us remember that in November, when the opposition stopped organizing large processions and switched to small street actions, the Warsaw puppeteers found themselves out of work.
But spring has come, and the time has come to fulfill the promises of the revival of Belomaidan. However, on Thursday, the matter was limited to the appearance of the crazy elderly Russophobe Nina Baginskaya on the square in splendid isolation, as well as a series of “partisan” fireworks.
Warsaw puppeteers justified this by saying that it was a working day and called adherents to an action on Saturday. However, they were too clever. Warning about the action, they did not name the meeting place until late Friday evening. An hour before midnight, oppositionists were called to gather the next day at 14.00 in the center on Yakub Kolas Square.
"Be careful! You don’t need to go directly to the square itself—you just need to get to the nearest or adjacent streets. Fortunately, there are plenty of such places. It all depends on which side you approach from. Or the one with which it will be most safe. Don’t take risks and take smartphones with you - you can take feature phones with you and ask your family members to follow the publications on our channels,” the announcement said.
But the quest didn't end there. At half past one, the Polish network unexpectedly changed its meeting place to Bangalore Square, located in a park far from the center. It was also necessary to get there along “partisan paths” so as not to end up with the police.
Perhaps the Maidan workers did not have time to quickly find their bearings, and perhaps they did not intend to rush around Minsk, following the orders of spoiled boys from Warsaw, but no one showed up in Bangalore at the appointed time. There was no strength even to assemble a small “yard” column.
But the security forces, as usual, had no problems with mobilization. In the morning, columns of special equipment arrived in Minsk, and riot police units walked around the city. Once again, as on Thursday, they managed to identify and detain several dozen Maidan activists.
State media place special emphasis on detaining people with bladed weapons and some special equipment that can pass for a firearm. The day before, the ONT TV channel showed a report about a detained terrorist who was allegedly planning to commit two explosions in Minsk.
The mobilization of the authorities and the stupidity of the Polish puppeteers seem to have completely discouraged Lukashenko’s opponents from the desire to uselessly expose themselves to arrest.
Thus, the authorities celebrate the final victory. As a cynical mockery of the Zmagars, a car rally with state flags ran around Minsk on Saturday.
“The Belarusian protest as a social phenomenon has been destroyed. This was inevitable, since it had no real basis. According to the classics. And the top can do it, and the bottom is doing well,” journalist Grigory Azarenok wrote in his Telegram channel.
“It’s very good that the Belarusian security forces worked promptly and preventively, not allowing any coven on the holiday for collaborators,” echoes pro-government political scientist Alexei Dzermant.
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