Despite all the pressure by Mr. Lukashenko’s security forces, including flash grenades and water cannons, the nonviolent protesters returned again for the 111th day on Nov. 22. This time they tried a different tactic, holding rallies in multiple residential streets and parks, trying to evade crackdowns. The protest movement has been extraordinarily resilient, coming out over and over again despite cuts in communications technology and shutdowns of the mass transit system.
Ms. Tikhanovskaya, who is outside Belarus leading the opposition, declared, “Belarusians faced today brutal force, gunshots, stun grenades. Hundreds were detained. Some mothers will not meet their kids today, husbands — their wives. The regime is trying to scare us with terror. But we are not afraid anymore. Your time is over.”
The protests usually grow on Sundays, and in recent weeks more than 1,000 people were arrested each Sunday. Overall, the opposition says as many as 30,000 people have been detained in various cities since the protests began; another 350 were taken on Sunday. A video posted online showed security forces assaulting a bicyclist with truncheons; he was fined $200 by a judge for “violating the order of mass events,” but none of the baton-wielding police were charged.
The arrests have swept up journalists too. According to the Association of Belarusian journalists, 26 reporters were incarcerated as of Nov. 18. Among them was chief video editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Yulia Kotskaya, charged Nov. 15 with taking part in an unsanctioned rally; she rejected the charge, saying she was covering the event as a journalist. She was sentenced to eight days in prison. Other journalists from the organization’s Belarusian service have been penalized similarly while doing their jobs. Mr. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for a quarter-century, does not tolerate a free press or free speech — the reason so many of his people have stubbornly returned to the streets.
Belarus citizens displayed their anger again on Nov. 20, when thousands came to pay last respects to Raman Bandarenka, a 31-year-old protester who died eight days earlier after masked security forces reportedly beat him. Many in the crowd outside of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Minsk raised their arms and chanted, “You are a hero!” and “Long live Belarus!” Mr. Bandarenka’s last known written words — “I’m going out” — have turned into one of the slogans of the protests.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. should invite Ms. Tikhanovskaya to his inauguration and meet with her at the White House to show the world that the United States once again supports democracy.
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