Today, Sunday, is a day when even bigger anti Lukashenko protests are planned in Belarus. In recent days it was Belarusian women that are driving force of those protests and the regime took notice. For the last two days we saw reports of women being arrested just about everywhere, even in the churches. The heavily muscled men in civilian clothing and ski masked were seen entering churches and forcefully removing women seeking refuge there.
Today (Sunday), officers from the law enforcement agencies started arresting people going to an opposition demonstration in Minsk, Interfax-Zapad reported, citing eyewitnesses. The Minsk police have confirmed the arrest of several people.
In Minsk, the militia and army were strengthened, and special equipment was brought in before the Sunday demonstration against Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka, said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Volha Czemadanawa.
She added that the police will take "all necessary measures" to "put an end to illegal activities and prevent violations of public order".
Independent media, including the tut.by portal, reported that the Independence Square in Minsk, as well as the vicinity of the Hero City Monument, where protesters often gather, have been fenced in.
Minsk right now. Lukashenko's masked thugs, OMON and interior troops attack multiple columns of people heading towards the city centre.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 13, 2020
Video by: @tutby pic.twitter.com/tC5OUJEd6N
#Minsk. This video shows that riot police officers appeared with shotguns today. The quality is not excellent, but these might be rubber bullet guns, though I cannot confirm this. It all might be done to scare people,but as we already saw, police were ready to shoot people pic.twitter.com/qJbl7lYODJ
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) September 13, 2020
