page_title: 2020 Belarusian protests
section_title: First week
hierarchical_section_title: 2020 Belarusian protests / Post-election / First week
caption_attribution_description: English: Local spontaneous meeting against repressions and falsifictations. Zavodsky district, Minsk, Belarus Беларуская: Стыхійная акцыя пратэсту супраць рэпрэсій і фальсіфікацый. Заводскі раён, Мінск, Беларусь Русский: Стихийная акция протеста против репрессий и фальсификаций. Заводской район, Минск, Беларусь
context_page_description: The 2020 Belarusian protests are a series of political demonstrations against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The demonstrations, which are part of the Belarusian democracy movement, began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office. In response, a number of relatively small pro-Lukashenko demonstrations were held.
  On 14 August, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed that she had received 60–70% of the vote and announced the creation of the Coordination Council, with membership applications open to all Belarusians who agree that the election had been falsified.
context_section_description: The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, in a summary of events during protests in the night of 11–12 August, noted that in several cities, "there were facts of open confrontation with the law enforcement agencies". In Brest, they also reported "a group of aggressively minded citizens with fittings in their hands attacked police officers." The ministry also stated that "five deliberate raids with the use of cars" were committed to law enforcement officers during the day. In Zhodzina, Minsk Region, after such a collision, a soldier was hospitalized with multiple injuries.
  As the protests swept across Belarus following the election results, the primary opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya published a video saying that she left Belarus for Lithuania. She was presumed to have been coerced to leave while also submitting a complaint to the CEC (Central Election Commission of Belarus). She was detained by CEC for seven hours.
  In the evening, the protests continued in all major cities of Belarus, including Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Baranavichy, Maladzyechna, Navahrudak, Novopolotsk, Zhodzina. In Minsk, protesters changed their tactics, switching positions from one part of the city to another, similar to the "be water" tactics used in the 2019–20 protesters in Hong Kong. Protesters barricaded the area around the Riga Market in the center of Minsk. Government forces responded by tear-gassing the protesters and using flashbangs. Authorities threw flashbangs and fired rubber bullets at the protesters at close range. A protester, Alexander Taraikovsky, died near Pushkinskaya metro station. 
  
  The flashbangs purportedly originated in the Czech Republic, which had imposed an embargo on selling flashbangs to Belarus after the suppression of the 2010 elections.
  The government's riot police (AMAP/OMON), internal troops, and anti-terrorist "Almaz" elite special force participated in the suppression of the protests in Minsk. Water cannons were also used near the Riga Market, and rubber bullets were widely used everywhere. Mass protests were reported. It was reported that AMAP/OMON squads seized some ambulances or used visually similar vans to deceive the protesters into allowing them through the barricades.
  Five days later, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta wrote that the beatings and arrests that occurred on 10 August 2020, were ordered by the retired commander of Military Unit 3214 of the Internal Troops of Belarus, Dmitri Pavlichenko. He had been previously arrested for serious crimes. 
  On 11 August, the protests resumed in Minsk and other major cities. Rubber bullets and flashbangs were widely used. The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that it used live ammunition against protesters in Brest. One death was reported, as one man, Gennady Shutov, in critical condition and with severe brain damage as of 14 August, succumbed to his injuries on 19 August in Minsk.
  On 11 August 2020 Molotov cocktails began to be thrown at security officials in Minsk. Activists built barricades and began to burn tires near the capital's shopping center "Riga", the area near which will become one of the main places of clashes between activists and law enforcement officers. Telegram channel NEXTA, used by the opposition, published messages alleging violence by law enforcement officers, which were not always accompanied by video or photo confirmation. Telegram published aggressive vocabulary against law enforcement, such as "punishers" and "fascists". Telegram was one of the few accessible resources during a concurrent internet blackout and VPN usage was ubiquitous, with Psiphon usage skyrocketing.
  In Gomel, a 25-year-old man died on 12 August after waiting in a security forces detainee van for many hours in hot weather. He had a heart condition and wasn't given proper medical attention in time. Also, in Gomel, relatives, and friends of over 500 arrested people were not allowed to visit them. The local police did not tell them anything about their relatives' fate. It was also reported that the policewoman abused an arrested woman 
caption: Protesters near a church in Minsk (12 August)
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