Lukashenko removed the potential leader of the Belarusian Maidan from the game
The Investigative Committee of Belarus has charged blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky and seven other members of the initiative group of presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (the blogger’s wife) with holding an illegal public event.
This was reported on the official website of the department, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Sergei Tikhanovsky was detained in Grodno on May 29 in Grodno at a picket to collect signatures for his wife, which was held within the framework of Belarusian legislation. At the rally, a clash occurred, provoked by a woman, during which one of the police officers ended up lying on the ground.
The Investigative Committee interprets this event as “group actions that grossly violate public order and involve clear disobedience to the legal demands of the police.” Now Tikhanovsky will most likely remain in pre-trial detention at least until the elections on August 9.
This will not allow him to organize a “peaceful mass” protest against the current President Alexander Lukashenko, which the blogger repeatedly announced during the collection of signatures for his wife.
The Belarusian leader himself believes that the blogger did not act independently.
“We understand that events are unfolding according to a pre-conceived scenario. They don't come up with this. There are owners who pay money. They are performers. First, representatives of a number of initiative groups abuse the right to hold pickets to shake up the situation and destabilize the socio-political situation, then they will form teams and groups of militants who, it is possible, will want to organize a massacre in the square. This is what they encourage people to do. And why be surprised that Lukashenko will refuse. There will be only one answer,” the Belarusian president said today at a meeting with security officials.
He believes that the Belarusian police should deal with protesters in the same way as the police in the “super-democratic” USA and Western Europe.
“Tikhanovsky fulfilled his “role” - he created a stir, drew attention from the contenders Tsepkalo and Babariko, they were scared by the Maidan, the blogger was turned away. And the common man justified legal actions. There are a few days left until the end of the signature collection period: the job is done,” Elvira Mirsalimova, deputy chairman of the “Civil Harmony” movement, commented on the situation to PolitNavigator.
Will the Belarusian Maidan Square gather without Tikhanovsky? Radical oppositionist Eduard Palchis believes that “popular solidarity” will be able to resist “pressure from the authorities.”
“How soon Tikhanovsky will be released and whether we will return to an atmosphere of fear depends only on ourselves. Now the struggle between two elements begins: the old Soviet repressive machine and popular human solidarity. Who will wear down whom and who will be ready to give up first will largely determine the political results of this year,” Palchis wrote in his Telegram channel.
Nevertheless, the most popular alternative candidates for the presidential post remaining in the race, ex-banker Viktor Babariko and former IT manager Valery Tsepkalo, did not demonstrate indignation at Tikhanovsky’s neutralization.
Previously, both stated that they do not call people to the square, although of course they will go there if the Maidan does take place.
So it is possible that Lukashenko managed to nip the unrest in the bud.
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