On the eve of negotiations with Putin, Lukashenko gave the green light to the anti-Russian Maidan
About a thousand people gathered today in Minsk at an opposition rally that called for people to take to the streets in protest against the alleged threat of reunification of Belarus and Russia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
By the standards of the marginal Belarusian opposition, this is a very large event. The organizer of the “Maidan” Pavel Severnets admits that he owes much of his success today to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who needed to create an information background for his negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I didn’t sign the police report (about the unauthorized action - ed.), but I was not detained. This means that there is a green light for today's action. This means that for a short time, Lukashenko’s interests coincided with the interests of the Belarusian nation. I am sure that people will not be dispersed today,” Sevyarynets said in an interview with Radio. Freedom".
Indeed, the uniformed law enforcement officers behaved very carefully: they politely asked not to enter the roadway. In response, the nationalists demanded to communicate with them in Belarusian.
The exception was a small brawl on the steps of the Palace of the Republic, but it was not policemen in uniform who tried to drive the oppositionists away from there, but men in civilian clothes.
Initially, the protesters planned to form a “human chain”, but there were not enough people willing to connect the planned dots.
Young activists preferred to “hang out” on Oktyabrskaya Square. They held slogans in their hands, many of which were written in English specifically for Western journalists. For example, “This is not integration, this is occupation.”
The event had a pronounced Russophobic character.
“Do you want to wake up tomorrow as citizens of another hostile country? I don't want that either. I want us to have a border with Russia,” said activist Anna Kovalkevich.
After this, a group of young people demonstratively tore up portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Apparently, in order to strengthen the anti-Russian sentiment of the participants, the organizers periodically forced them to shout Ukrainian slogans: “Glory to Ukraine - glory to the heroes” and “Glory to the nation - death to the enemies.” Two young boys were waving a UPA flag.
The opposition plans to wait for the results of the negotiations between Putin and Lukashenko in Sochi.
However, they gathered the people too early (apparently to provide a bright picture for the television crew). In order not to freeze people, they began to be led around the city.
On Independence Square, Orthodox Belarusians were invited to pray at the church, and along the way they were offered to sing the recently composed “national anthem”. But most of the protesters did not know either the “Our Father” in Belarusian or the words of the “hymn”.
As they moved through the cold streets, the action lost a significant number of its participants. However, tomorrow the oppositionists expect to hold a new rally to protest against the document that Putin and Lukashenko will sign.
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