The Filter^

by Sergei

Belarus Election and Protests, from The Filter^:

I was there yesterday, [March 25th] hope you've seen the highlights on TV. My father told me later that CNN were coverning the events as Breaking News, and many european TV companies have made their reports after the meating.

Police forces used gas bombs to stop the demonstration. I was 100 metres from these attacks. I didn't suffer from it though, but it was a strong smell in the air.

I shot about eighty snapshots: http://thefilter.blogs.com/photos/belarus_2006/index.html

I tell you what: I am sure that this is the end of lukashenko's era. Despite today's inauguration many people here as well as abroad think the same way.

You know why I decided to take part in 25 march demonstration? Because I felt that we're going to win. Not right now, obviously, it will take time. But the fall of lukashenko's realm has begun.

When people were going down the street during the demonstration, many passing cars were bipping, and passengers were hailing us and showing their solidarity. I felt it distinctively, believe me. Their number impressed me so much. For the first time in many years I felt this spirit, when numerous Belarusian citizens got fed up with the regime and really keen to change things.

The worst thing for us is that Russia is still supporting lukashenko. He has concentrated all informational resources, able to influence public opinion: we only have state TV. And TV is definitely the most crucial PR and political instrument. Internet and opposition papers aren't so important, because their audience is already almost 100% pro-democratic.

But still, much bigger dictators, such as stalin, have fallen. USSR and eastern communist block have fallen as well. USSR, were the intelligence (KGB etc.) were much stronger than in modern Belarus. It clearly demonstrates that our time will come!!!

Russia threatening Belarus to rise up natural gas prices? We are the only former-USSR republiс that is paying about 46-48USD/1000 cubic metres. The others like geaorgia, baltic states, ukraine pay bigger money. This low price has been russia's "payment" to us for being loyal and close ally. Plus, our economy manage to exist only due to low natural gas prices (despite official propaganda, saying about our excellent and unique economy model:)

I'll be following the events and keep you informed.

Belarussian govt has resigned! Luka's going to for new govt. Weird, isn't it?

Sergei writes from Minsk

Belarus Protests: Frederick Lavoie

Belarus Election and Protests, from The Filter^:

During the  police crackdown in Minsk (Day 5) a Canadian journalist for the Montral newspaper, La Presse, was arrested and jailed for 15 days (Yahoo! news). Frederick Lavoie, 23, has been given food and toiletries by British officials but his exact treatment is unkown.

Lavoie was in Minsk to cover the Presidential election, and staying with a Belarussian called Sergei - who has himself been on the frontline of the unfolding action. Sergei has kindly (and bravely) agreed to share his information with The Filter^, and he has sent us several photographs of the March 25th proests.

View the Exclusive Gallery Here

(All photos are taken by Sergei)

Also, a German site (media-ocean) has linked to this YouTube video of a polling station, and suggests this is evidence of voting fraud.

Further links  (click here)

Belarus Protests

Belarus Election and Protests, from The Filter^:

Demonstration met with strict crackdown - one dead

Charter 97:

More than 10,000 Belarusian citizens have taken to the streets on March 25 in Minsk to celebrate Freedom Day. Thousands of policemen and riot policemen were hurled against peaceful protesters, all array of special means was used: smoke-grenades, noise-making explosives and teargas. Peacefully protesting people were beaten up until they were bleeding and unconscious, many people were carried away in stretchers by doctors. One person is reportedly killed. Hundreds of people are arrested again. Special detention centers are filled to capacity with political prisoners already, and new prisoners of conscience arrive. The dictatorship has proved again that it rests only on force. Flowers and peaceful slogans were opposed by weapons.

Robert Mayer:

At least one person is confirmed dead with a skull injury.

The revolution has already begun in the minds of the people.

There are tons of photos that you all certainly must see. Tons. Taken by news agencies and LiveJournalists alike. Click here, here, here, here, here, here. There is even video here.

Previously:

Tensions are high in Belarus' capital Minsk as several thousand protesters defied police attempts to prevent a rally over a disputed election.

Protesters moved in to the main streets after special forces closed off October Square, the site of a tented protest camp cleared away by police on Friday

BBC News: Report | Accounts

Peaceful demonstrators moving to Akrestsyn Street are pelted by smoke bombs and stun grenades. Tear gas is used against people. People are stricken by panic. Riot policemen club them. Dzmitry Paulichenka, riot police commander has delivers several blows to presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin again. A bleeding man lies on the other side of the riot police cordon.

Charter 97: Report

Further links  (click here)

Belarus Election: Day 5

Belarus Election and Protests, from The Filter^:

Police stormed the opposition tent camp in the Belarusian capital Minsk early Friday morning, detaining hundreds of demonstrators who had spent a fourth night protesting President Alexander Lukashenko's victory in a disputed election.

The arrests came after a half dozen large police trucks and around 100 helmeted riot police with clubs pulled up to Oktyabrskaya Square in central Minsk about 3 a.m. (AP)

Charter 97 have the photos | BBC Video

A few scattered thoughts on this

• The demonstrators had clearly learnt from the effective strategy used in Kiev
• so had Lukashenko
• This isn't an international issue - US and EU are making noises but don't think this is worth upsetting Putin over
• Putin and Lukashenko aren't especially close, so there's negotiating room with Moscow for non-radical regime change
• These things only work if the various opposition factions are united. In Minsk they showed signs of splitting after Malinkevich changed his mind and encourage demonstrators to stay until Saturday. That decision appears to have backfired, and could lead to a split in the opposition
• The fact it was stormed now seems to have pre-empted Saturday's protests. Consequently everything comes down to Saturday, and things look ominous

Our man in Minsk told me that he was intending to protest on Saturday. These events have severely increased the potential danger, and may impact his ability to write for us. I'll keep you all posted.

Day 1: Introduction and Links (click here)

Day 2: Liveblogging (click here)

Day 3: Updates (click here)

Day 4: Updates (click here)

Exclusive conversations with people in Minsk (click here)

Belarus Election: Day 4

Belarus Election and Protests, from The Filter^:

Day 1: Introduction and Links (click here)

Day 2: Liveblogging (click here)

Day 3: Updates (click here)

UPDATED conversations with people in Minsk (click here)

I won't be offering any updates tonight so keep looking at Robert Mayer and flick back through the previous coverage here for links and information. Ivan Lenin sums up the situation:

The chance for immediate change is very slim, but real. [Belarus] won’t be the same anymore. Too many people have changed.

Deeper perspective is provided by Tim Garton-Ash and The Economist.

Saturday's demonstrations will be very important, and I hope to have someone providing first-hand stories of what goes on. Keep watching.

Belarus Election: Day 3

Belarus Election and Protests, Live from The Filter^:

Day 1: Introduction and Links (click here)

Day 2: Liveblogging (click here)

UPDATED conversations with people in Minsk (click here)

Latest:

12:30: LiveJournalist Lipski says that there are still about 1000 people on the square. It’s sub-zero, and the authorities have cut all of the electricity. But they’re still there. Ivan Lenin translates a report from Radio Svoda saying that they all plan to stay, though they know that tonight the police can use force to break the protest up.

Meanwhile, the 108 opposition supporters who have been arrested in the past three days have been put on trial, with the authorities closing it to the public. Many sentences have already been passed.

(from Robert Mayer)

About a thousand people braved the cold to camp out in October square last night. Police formed a perimeter to make sure food, water and clothing didn't enter and anyone who left to seek provisions were either denied re-entry or were arrested.

Milinkevich has addressed the crowd on this, the third night or protests, and called for a demonstration on March 25th - Belarus' Freedom Day. He encouraged those on the square to remain, in defiance, and for other's across Belarus to joing them on Saturday.

So expect news to trickle through, depending on how long those currently there can last without supplies. Milinkevich has intended to tell them to go home and come back out on Saturday, but changed his mind so as not to cede the square.

Best place to keep up to date: Publius Pundit
Conversations from the square: Rush-Mush
New posts from: Right Ways
Best source for info is Charter 97 but the service is patchy
Photos available on flickr and Yahoo!, as well as the gallery of protests babes
Also, some music from Radio Free Europe

Belarus Election: Day 2

Belarus Election and Protests, Live from The Filter^:

Day 1: Introduction and Links (click here)

Exclusive conversations with people in Minsk [from last night] (click here)

Best Place for Live news: Publius Pundit

UPDATES (Latest News at the TOP)

It seems that a small group of protesters are contained in the square, and intend to camp overnight. They are surrounded by police who've prevented others from joining them and those that leave are being arrested. There's been a call for others to join them at 6:30pm tomorrow night.

UPDATE

charter 97

Ivan Lenin is translating minsk_news

3:38 AM, Hitroe Radio, via LJ user samuel_smith
The police officers will support Lukashenka all the way to the end. The possibility that ordinary officers will switch sides is out of the question. We were talking to them for 2 hours without raising our voices, and there is no chance that they will switch sides. If they had an order, they would kill. On the 19th they were put on high alert five times, they were angry and ready to attack, but the alerts were cancelled. Today they are even more ready, but...There are very few people left on the square, 1,000 at most. People say Kozulin has already left, and I don't know about Milinkevich.

Mar. 21st, 2006 @ 01:54 am
There are around 1,00o people at the square. They are concentrated in two groups. One is at the steps of Profsoyuz Palace, watching the PA equipment. The other groupo is standing around the tents. There are around 25 flags over the crowd. The public transportation has already stopped [in Minsk and most post-Soviet cities 1 am is the standard time for this - IL]. I predict that the same number of people will stay overnight. I keep being told that those who leave the square one by one get arrested.

Minsk, March 21, 1:18 AM
They are starting to surround us. At the square, around a thousand people are remaining. The police are saying that they recieved an order to clear the square from the protestors

UPDATE

There's a flickr gallery

UPDATE

br23 has updated:

Hundreds of special police units are stationed in the backyards of the buildings adjacent to the October square.

UPDATE Charter 97 are there

01:07
Sons of Alyaksandr Milinkevich have come to the square. Vitaut and Alyaxandr told that they were detained not far from the square and taken to one of the police department of the city. Policemen wanted to draw up a report against them for violation of the article 156 of the Administrative Code (petty hooliganism). However, when a police colonel has found out that the sons of Milinkevich were detained, he tore the report and took them to the square in a personal car

23:34
Milinkevich’s two sons have been gone for forty minutes after leaving to look for food, their cars are empty, and their cell phones are not answering. In effect, they have disappeared and nobody knows where they are.

Check out Rob Mayer and Ivan Lenin for the latest. I have chatted with over a dozen people in Belarus over the last few hours, and they have as little information as we do. Some of them have claimed that the tents have now gone but alternative reports are still saying that the protests continue. Although I have only gleaned small amounts of factual information, I have learnt a lot about the process of regime change:

- what do you think of the election?
- horror

Alternatively

- what do you think of all this?
- I somehow did not reflect on it

UPDATES (latest news at the top)

Charter 97 seems to back online

22:50 Policemen have just tried to seize electric generator to stop the concert on October square. The single candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich talked to them, and they left. People were scanning: “Police is with people!”

22:25 Police orders to close the Central supermarket, which is situated near the October Square, an hour earlier. In this way policemen hope that people would not be able to buy hot tea and food in the shop. However, people are bringing food and hot tea from home

UPDATE

There's video coverage available

Further mention of the military in Karl Marx st (scroll down)

And there is a rumor going around that in half an hour, the protestors will be brutally attacked. This Guardian article says that, and it is corroborated by other LiveJournal reports, that busloads of troops were inunloaded at Karl Marx St. and have been stationing themselves in neighborhood squares to prevent people from going to October Square.

UPDATE

David McDuff says:

Gazeta.ru (GR) is reporting (21:37, you may need to scroll) that the number of demonstrators in the centre of the Belarus capital Minsk is now estimated at around 20,000 - a huge increase in a very short time, and frankly, it seems impossible that the numbers could have jumped that far in the space of six minutes...

UPDATE

Ivan Lenin says:

9:06 PM
The meeting continues. Speakers include opposition members, famous writers and musicions. People keep coming and going, but there are always 5 to 6 thousands people remaining. I can see some Georgian flags.

UPDATE

Robert Mayer says:

Charter 97 has finally gotten its last hour of updates going. Milinkevich has declared that they will stay on the square until victory and has told people to call everyone they know, and to fetch warm clothes, blankets, and tea. Famous Belorussian artists, singers, and intellectuals are giving speeches and playing music. And the air is festive. Balloons are being sent into the air and people are hopeful. This is the latest as of 8:30 p.m. Minsk time. Lipsky’s report was at 7:30. This makes me very hopeful. RFE/RL confirms at least 15,000 people and the call to stay all night.

His photos are here.

UPDATE 14:22 (est)

According to a source there are no tents in Oktyabrskaya Sq as we speak

UPDATE

Photo's are coming through of the following:

According to Neeka:

LJ user lipski reports (RUS) from Oktyabrskaya Sq. in Minsk for the second night in a row: weather's good; the square's not blocked; politically active young people decided not to set up a 'tent city' because officials have allegedly confiscated 1,500 tents, but there are plans to put up their own tents, tomorrow or the day after; many flags, including Ukrainian and the EU; many journalists; cars are honking in solidarity; sound is good today - lipski stands across the square from the stage and hears everything; 6,000-7,000 people and this is probably it; tried to put up a tent, but two cops came up and took it away.

As I say though, I'm not sure if they're still there

UPDATE

Photos of Monday's protests from Yahoo. The only up to date information I have found is our own sources in Minsk, who say that the protests are now over. Either this is incorrect or a Filter^ world exclusive...

UPDATE 13:25 est

I have two sources in Minsk - they independently confirm that the protests have finished

UPDATE

Poor translation from Russian RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty says protest over - fewer demonstrators than before

(Matt Jay)

UPDATE

not sure when this photo was taken

Rush Mush is translating various livejournal accounts of what's happening at the moment:

There are around 6-7 thousands of people, and looks like there won't be many more (source)

the administration of the Belarusian State University has informed the students, that if they are found on the square instead of being in class, they will be expelled (source)

According to a Belarusian Partisan correspondent, some military vehicles are coming to the nearby Karl Marx Street (source)

According to Neeka:

Channel 5 reports there are MORE people at Oktyabrskaya Square than there were yesterday!!! The square is packed and more people are coming!!!

Best place to go is Publius Pundit (Robert Mayer) and Charter 97 (although I can't connect anymore...).

Updates on Yahoo!, Google News

Also check out Orange Revolution, Russian Mushroom

Tim Garton-Ash wants your thoughts

Bloomberg report:

`The U.S. does not accept the results,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said today in Washington.         

`We call for a new election.''   

Pravda: Putin congratulates Lukashenko

Jeans vs Oranges

Belarus Election and Protests, Live from The Filter^:

Introduction and Links (click here)

Exclusive conversations with people in Minsk (click here)

I had an enthralling evening last night chatting to a few people in Minsk, and there are further protests planned to begin imminently. Milinkevich told supporters last night to go home, go to school/work, and then come out again in the evening. Our sources weren't planning on joining them, so maybe they'll add more comments from their homes.

It's worth pointing out a few differences between what's happening in Belarus and what happened in Kiev. Belarus is far more repressed, and there's a geniune concern that further protests will not be tolerated. Last night was peaceful - i've not heard any accounts of bloodshed - and the police appeared to be smiling. But this isn't a revolution aiming to overthrow Lukashenko, since it's widely acknowledged that he would have won the election if the votes were fair. He is the most popular Presidential candidate in Belarus.

Rather, the demonstrations are for free and fair elections for their own sake, are patriotic, and thereofre more tolerable in the short term. However the reason that they're rigged in the first place is to quench dissent, and suppress opposition, meaning that the protests become more damaging to
Lukashenko the longer they go on.

The turn out tonight will be far lower than last night, and therefore more committed. If it's especially small then there's little threat, and it'll pass. If it's very large, then like last night it's hard to see the police willing to intervene. The concern is if it's somewhere imbetween - large enough to be effective opposition, but small enough to end sharply.

We watch and wait.

Belarus Conversations

These are some excerpts from a few conversations conducted via instant messaging and telephone, with people in Minsk.

Tuesday 21st March 2006

[AJE Three conversation occuring now, i'll try to translate and update]

AJE: What's going on?

t: total shit !

Sv: Personally, my opinion and my friend's opinion is that it is all full of nonsense! You hand out money to students so there they go and sit! It's not normal, we don't have pickets or meetings.
AJE: Who's paying them?
Sv: Opposition parties

AJE: Will the military go in? Do you think there might be bloodshed?
a: You're joking!! The  militia does not interfere - the students  would run up to the mommies and daddies!!

a: I do not see any sense in repeating the elections

C: There is not much public support [for the protests]. The elections were not fair, but Lukashenko would still have got over 50%

Monday 20th March 2006

[AJE: The Filter^ Has been joined by two more Belarusians]

http://news.tut.by/elections/65693.html

update остался прежний президент

Did you protest
   (yes)
Will you protest tonight?
   (there is no sense)
Why not?
   (The President has been elected, therefore there is no sense

update

(yes i was there)

AJE: are you going to again after work?

(probably not)

AJE: will there be less than last night?

(unequivocally)

update

i didn't see any army, there was no militia

update

(there were less than 20,000)

(they've all gone home now)            

update

(I only learnt yesterday that it was "the jeans revolution".)

(and very few of us have jeans)

update

it is a difficult situation with the authorities, i will not wear jeans

[i predict bloodshed??]

update

the official data for Лукашенко was 82,6%, and 31,2% voted ahead of schedule!  These were not real figures. I do not trust them at all.

Sunday March 19th

вечером продолжим

(in the evening we shall continue)

[AJE: i don't know if he means the protests or our conversation!!]

Belarus Election: Day 1

Belarus Election and Protests, Live from The Filter^:

Exclusive conversations with people in Minsk (click here)

Day Two (click here)

Updates on Yahoo! (click here)

Publius Pundit (Robert Mayer) has pioneered the "babe theory of revolutions" (successful revolutions are more likely to occur when pretty women are involved). A Minx from Minsk:

According to this post, Veronica Khokhlova is liveblogging, and people are going home. These things aren't settled on the first night, however.

More photos being added to my directory here. Yahoo has a ton of photos as well. Andrei Khrapavistski has a ton of photos right from the square.

Check out Right Ways, and br23 for updates.
More bloggers: Tobias Ljungvall, Blogging Belarus, Andrei Khrpavistski, Jim Hoft, Dean’s World.

Here's one of those photos from the square:

If you can speak Russian try Charter 97. Also, Alexei (alias) hopes to share his thoughts with The Filter^. He is from Minsk but can't promise anything.