Reported Belarus Protester Death Blamed On Police, Despite Video Evidence. Authorities Deny Any Deaths (UPDATED)
On August 10th, Belarus’ central election commission announced that all ballots had been counted.
President Alexander Lukashenko won a 6th term, with 80.23% of the vote, while his main opposition challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had 9.9%.
On August 9th, election day, there were protests throughout the country, with clashes between protesters and police throughout.
Videos on social media have shown extensive violent clashes between protesters and the security forces, with tear gas, rubber bullets, flashbang grenades and water cannon used to try and disperse crowds.
According to pro-opposition sources, a protester even died, and he was allegedly killed by authorities.
He attempted to jump on a moving vehicle, failed to do so, fell, hit his head and died as a result of the hit. However, MSM reports cite the pro-Western Vyasna Human Rights Center said the young male protester suffered a traumatic head injury when he was hit by a police vehicle and medics were unable to save him.
Despite the video that very obviously proves otherwise.
The video below is supposedly showing the incident:
Graphic pic.twitter.com/cE0AcFKTAp
— Already Happened (@M3t4_tr0n) August 9, 2020
The Belarusian Interior Ministry denied any deaths during the protests. According to the ministry, 39 police officers and 50 protesters were injured in the clashes. Nonetheless, nobody was killed. Later, the supposedly killed civilian, Evgeny Zaichkin, was contacted by journalists and appeared to be alive. He returned to the coutnry’s capital Minsk only 4 months ago. Before this, he was working in Poland and Lithuania.
Fake reports about the death during the protests were likely disseminated in an attempt to destabilize the situation in the country.
Police in Belarus briefly detained some 3,000 people for taking part in the unauthorized gatherings, the interior ministry said, accusing some protesters of sparking clashes with police.
The ministry said in a statement that 1,000 of the detentions were in the capital Minsk and the rest in other parts of the country.
It said protesters in Minsk had lit flares, erected barricades and thrown objects at police. Fifty civilians and 39 police officers were injured in clashes in the capital, it said, denying there were any deaths.
Attempting to ride the protesters, opposition figure that won 9.9% of the vote Svetlana Tikhanovskaya rejected the results and demanded authorities transfer power to the opposition.
“Yesterday the voters made their choice but the authorities did not hear us, they have broken with the people,” she told a news conference.
She also denounced authorities for the crackdown, saying police had used “disproportionate measures” against protesters and called disruptions to the internet “a crime.”
There were also reports of journalists being assaulted.
At least one journalist from @meduzaproject and @AP photographer were beaten. Daily Storm and @Belsat_TV journalists were detained. Police drones were filming the area at night. They literally followed people who tried to evacuate #Belarus
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) August 10, 2020
After voting on August 9th, Lukashenko denied imposing repressive measures as “fake news or far-fetched accusations”.
Currently, Belarus is being targeted by a wide-scale media and diplomatic campaign by Euro-Atlantic structures in an attempt to destabilize the situation there. This campaign is supported by a small, but agressive group of supporters of the so-called ‘neo-liberal’ values and radical nationalists. Nonetheless, Minsk has already demonstrated that it is not going to tolerate attempts to seize the power by pro-Western forces through street violence and coup attempts.
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