Well, the protests in Belarus drag on. Not sure where this is going. Major events this week:
- Thousands protested this weekend. Was it tens of thousands?
- They switched the protests to a “march of neighbors,” meaning instead of protesting in the heavily policed downtown, they did about 20+ separate protests across the various neighborhoods in Minsk. I gather this is an attempt to complicate the police’s job and to reduce the number of people arrested. It is a change of tactics.
- 313 people were detained/arrested
- Lukashenko claimed he would step down after a new constitution is adopted. “I am not going to shape the constitution to suit my needs. I am not going to be the president once the new constitution is in place.” He has been in power for 26 years.
- Have no idea what is going to be in the new constitution or when it will be completed. It does not appear that the opposition are putting much faith in the process, or have any role in it.
Anyhow, it appears to be more of the same for several more weeks.
P.S. The picture of the detained protestor is from last month, I just happen to like it (“Beauty and the Beast”). She was identified over twitter (@A_Sannikov) as Natalia Petukhova. The arresting officer has not been identified. Picture came from @svirsky1 via @XSovietNews