On 9 August something snapped in the people of Belarus. After 26 years in power, ‘Europe’s last dictator’ Alexander Lukashenko had declared himself winner of fraudulent elections once again. It was the last straw – the economy was in trouble, the president was denying the existence of coronavirus; doctors were being arrested. The popular opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky had been thrown in jail, along with various other candidates. When his wife, Svetlana, ran instead, the official result gave Lukashenko 80 per cent of the vote, compared with her 10 per cent.
When the people rose up in mass peaceful protest, the brutal police response – usually targeted against activists, out of sight – played out in broad daylight. Protesters were tortured and raped; dead bodies were found in the woods. Since then, the protests have continued, with women at the helm, wearing white and rejecting violence.
