2011 nationwide demonstrations in Belarus against the government of Alexander Lukashenko
2011 Belarusian protests
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/RevInBel1.jpg/300px-RevInBel1.jpg) Security forces pushing back protesters in
Minsk
, 15 June 2011
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Date
| 8 June
(
2024-06-08
)
? 12 October 2011
(
2011-10-13
)
(4 months and 4 days)
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Location
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Caused by
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Goals
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Methods
| Political lobbying
, public rallies,
demonstrations
,
riots
,
industrial action
.
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18 injuries, including 2 police officers
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The
2011 Belarusian protests
were a series of peaceful
protests
by demonstrators in
Belarus
demanding the resignation of current Belarusian president
Alexander Lukashenko
, who had been the
president of Belarus
since 1994.
[1]
[2]
Belarus is an
authoritarian
state, and in May 2011 presidential candidate
Andrei Sannikov
was sentenced to five years in prison for taking part in the
2010 presidential election
. Lukashenko claimed he won with almost 80% of the vote.
[3]
Background
[
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]
Much of the protesting fervor stemmed from a rapidly degrading economy that Belarus had been facing in the months before the protests.
[4]
Protests
[
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8 June
[
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- In the first protest actions, at 7 p.m. on Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk, about 400 people gathered together in response to an appeal on the Internet to come to the main squares of cities to take part in the silent protest action "Revolution Through the Social Network". At the beginning of the action, the participants stood disorganized in small groups, occupying a significant part of the square. At around 7:10 p.m., the participants began to applaud spontaneously, after which a dense ring of protesters and journalists formed in the center of the square. People standing in the center of the ring sang songs and played the guitar.
- The action was watched by members of the special forces police regiment, as well as people with civilian walkie-talkies. Special forces were on duty not far from the crowd, while the plain clothes officers were constantly in the center of the event, without interfering in the course of the peaceful action. Around 7:45 p.m., the participants began to disperse. Only a few dozen people remained on the square.
- In
Mogilev
, on Lenin Square near the House of Soviets, about 80 people gathered at the call. Young people prevailed among the participants of the action. According to some participants, they were largely inspired by the action "Stop Petrol," held the day before in Minsk.
- About 200 people gathered on Lenin Square in Brest. The participants of the action did not shout out slogans and were without banners. They were walking and talking. Some of the passing cars were signaling in support of the participants' action. The action was observed by two people in police uniforms, as well as by security forces. The action lasted from 18:50 to 19:30 and ended with applause.
- About 200 people gathered on Lenin Square in the center of Gomel. The action was attended by famous Gomel musicians, representatives of informal youth movements.
29 June
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Hundreds of people gathered in
Minsk
, the capital of Belarus, to protest against the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. Unlike previous demonstrations, the protesters this time just simply applauded. It was not long before people were forced onto police buses, and about 40 were detained.
3 July
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On Belarusian independence day, about 3000 demonstrators took part in a "clapping protest" in the main square of Minsk, in which protesters clapped instead of chanting slogans.
Plain clothed
police later came, and arrested many protesters, including a one-armed man for clapping, and a deaf mute accused of shouting anti-government slogans.
[5]
Lukashenko and the state police were awarded the 2013
Ig Nobel Peace Prize
for these actions.
[6]
Following the protest on 3 July 2011, activists widened their tactical approach of
civil disobedience
by distributing videos of police brutality to random citizens, in order to help garner sympathy and bolster the global critiques of the authoritarian government.
[7]
13 July
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Plain-clothed officers detaining a protester in Minsk, 15 July
Hundreds of people showed up in Minsk with cellphones set to go off at 8 am, in gesture to tell people to "wake up". Several dozen people were arrested by the police.
[8]
Reaction
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The government began blocking social networking sites such as
Twitter
and
Facebook
.
[9]
[10]
On 29 July, the government banned assemblies and gatherings, making them illegal.
[11]
See also
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References
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