Last Sunday, a traditional march of protesters took place in Minsk, this time called the March of Unity. After the end of the protest, the security forces brutally detained some protesters. Neither the riot police nor the military shy away from detaining girls en masse.
Alyaksei from Minsk, whose wife was also detained after the march, told belsat.eu how it was:
We were surrounded by law enforcers near the Matavela plant. We were blocked off from traffic, and a crowd of soldiers ran towards us. They wore green uniforms and had truncheons.
Someone from the group ran forward, we remained standing. We were pushed to the building, we were in line. My wife Angelina was with me.
The leader of the detachment came up to us, the most charismatic guy came forward from us. We said that we just wanted to go home, to which he offered two options: go into the paddy wagon without any hassle, or they would use force against us and just push us there.
Several guys resisted, they were beaten with truncheons and taken to the paddy wagon. I understood that there was no point in fighting them, so I gave the backpack to my wife and went voluntarily.
Cars of relatives, friends and volunteers who arrived at the pre-trial detention center in Zhodzina. Belarus. August 13, 2020 Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.euThen I thought that the girls would not be affected, but I was wrong. They brought us to the local police station, drew up a protocol. There were over 100 men in the assembly hall. The girls were kept separately. I was even surprised that they treated us normally there, they didn’t beat us. Forty people, including me, were released at midnight, 64 remained in the police department.
When I got out, I started calling my wife, but the phone was unavailable. Subsequently, it turned out that Angelina was also arrested but brought to another police department. Now she is in Zhodzina.
Here I have been on duty since the night. They will be kept here until the trial, but the trial date is unknown. In all the time that I have been here, one person has come out. The list of those detained on September 6, which was posted on the prison wall, includes 259 people.
On Sunday, 633 people were detained across the country, half of them are awaiting trials.
