People Take On To Kastrychnitskaya Square In Minsk (Video, online)

The Minskers demand to release the Freedom Day detainees.

As Charter97.org reported before, students called on the residents of Minsk to take on to theKastrychitskaya Square on March 26 at midday.

The website Charter97.org is providing live text coverage of the action int he Kastrychnitskaya Square. Video by Radio Liberty.

13.30

The action is over, but the protests in Belarus will continue. Thank you for being with us!

13.23

The authorities have delivered communal equipment to the Square.

13.21

“Some advances were made towardsLukashenka, he did not satisfy them, so the whole imaginary "thaw" ended quickly," - the human rights activist of “Viasna” told the journalists.

13.19

The people refuse to go away and are still gathering in groups near the Central Store and McDonald’s.

13.11

“We shouldn’t have any more fear. We were afraid for quite too long! The authorities cannot intimidate us. What happened yesterday was a real mayhem. We are tired of being afraid, that’s enough!” – a participant of the action tells the journalists.

13.07

A protester near McDonald's: "The regime runs out of money. This regime will soon be swept away by the people. If not this year, then next year for sure. Soon it will have nothing to pay to this black police gang. People are no longer afraid. Yesterday there were more than ten thousand people, according to different estimates. The people need to get organized and sweep away this regime".

13.06

Activist Raman Pratasevich, who has been detained in the Kastrychnitskaya Square, writes on Twitter: “We aregoing in a fish-tank, nobody knows where”.

13.05

Riot policemen are checking the things of the customers in the Central Store.

13.04

McDonald’s has been closed due to “technical reasons”. The detention truck at Niamiha has already left.

12.59

Nina Bahinskaya has come to the Kastrychnitskaya Square. She has no flag. “They took mine yesterday in the police department. I didn’t manage to sew a new one. I don’t know where is my granddaughter Yana. They told in the police department that they had released her, but she didn’t return home. They are all liars there, they never tell the truth. My left knee is injured after the detention, it hurts when I walk, I will go to see a doctor. My friends have invited me to this action.”

12.59

The journalists inform that people get detained at Niamiha.

12.58

The number of people near the Central Store is growing.

12.55

The journalists say that the people in Babruisk have taken on to the square, 13 people have been detained.

12.53

Professor Mikalai Savitski has come to the action. “The authorities have disgraced my people.It’s not Statkevich, or the Freedom Day organizers, who lost. It was Lukashenka. It was the state power,which set unnesessary police force against own people,” – Savitski has told to the journalists.

12.50

Several dozen people are standing near the Central Store.

12.48

Journalist Stanislau Ivashkevich tells that the police in the Zazodzki district police department deliberately broke his phone yesterday so that he wouldn’t film anyting.

12.45

The journalists report 40 detainees.

12.44

The riot police are pushing the people to the McDonald’s.

12.42

Radio Liberty’s journalist Valer Kalinouski refuses to go to the place, specially allocated by the police for the press.

12.40

The passers-by loudly condemn the actions of the police.

12.39

The journalists moved aside, one more protester has been detained.

12.38

The police tell the press to gather somewhere aside. They did the same before the dispersal of the tent camp at the Square-2006.

12.37

Hudnreds of people gathered near the Kastrychnitskaya Square and in the area.

12.36

The riot policemen are trying to chase the journalists away. Three more people have been detained. The “maroon berets” detain the people.

12.35

Riot police are dissecting the crowd.They push, grab the people and drag them into the detention truck.

12.35

A new detention truck has arrived.

12.31

Aleh Ihnatsenka, a former deputy: "It's wonderful. I will say a paradox, but now we can see the formation of a nation, a civil society. All that this unfortunate person could do, this tyrant - he did. There is an awakening of the Belarusian nation, the wonderful Belarusian people. This is exactly what the BPR figures dreamed about. It is wonderful! I'm glad to see how the awakening of the nation is taking place. What is happening now, shows: the people have awakened. I want to be detained too, otherwise we will not be free from this bondage. " "I'm not afraid of detention. I am a participant of Afghan. Lukashenka is a cowardly creature. We will be liberated from this bulk ".

12.30

A big group of people have gathered on the other side of the lane, near the Central Store.

12.29

Leader of “Art-Siadziba” Pavel Belavus and his wife have been detained when they approached the Square.

12.28

The people are taking photographs of the riot policemen’s faces by their smart phones.

12.28

Detentions continue. Around 12 people have been taken to the detention truck in the Square.

12.27

Five riot policemen ran to one girl and dragged her into the detention truck.

12.26

The people are returning to the Kastrychnitskaya Square.

12.25

The riot policemen got into the detention truck.

12.25

The detention truck arrives again.Balaba commands.

12.24

The riot police push to the McDonald’s. The people are determined, the emotional intensity has escalated after the Freedom Day.

12.22

Big groups of people are gathering near the McDonald’s and the Central Store. The police are trying to push them off.

12.21

“They are the same age as my grandchildren, these riot policemen. How did they sleep ths nigt?” – an elderly lady says.

12.20

Several riot policemen approached them.

12.20

A big group of protesters gathered near the metro in the corner of the Square.

12.20

The police don’t touch the journalists by now.

12.19

Another man has been detained.

12.19

The video communication in the Kastrychnitskaya Square is blocked. The broadcasting breaks.

12.18

The riot policemen started another round of detentions. They twisted a man’s arms and are dragging himto the detention truck.

12.18

The first detenton truck with the detainees inside has already left.

12.18

The lady with emotional speech has not been detained yet.

12.17

10 people are sitting in the detention truck. The detentions are rough.

12.16

Balaba commands the riot police.

12.15

A detention truck has arrived to the square. One lady has been detained.

12.14

“We work to maintain all this evil” – another lady is pointing at a riot policeman, crying. “We needto come out again and again, to stop this horror!”

12.13

She says she couldn’t sleep all night:“Lukashenka should leave! Thegovernment should be dismissed! It’s impossible to tolerate this any longer! How could we put up with this for solong?!”, - the lady exclaims. “We are free people! We gathered here on the ground of theConstitution! Lukashenka should be dismissed!” – the wman says to the police. “Scoundrels!” – she shouts at them.

12.12

The people appear outraged, they openly speak against the authorities.

12.11

A woman emotionally tells about the brutal detentions yesterday.

12.09

A Minsker who participated in yeasterday’s Freedom Day action has arrived. He has said he was detained near the CUM store yesterday. He has calledthepolices actions tortures.

12.03

A protester is reciting a poem, addressed to the wives and relatives of the riot policemen. The poem says that there will inevitable be requital. “I hadnointention to come here, but when I saw yesterday’s mayhem, I decided I should go. My mother is 83 now, and she says that the situation in thecountry makes her feel the war is back. I cannot buy her importedmedicines because of Lukashenka’s decree. There is no money in the state. I don’tknow where the officials of the Zavodzki district took the money to repair their houses. There’sno money for ordinary people, while the officials roll in clover.

11.54

Several dozen people gathered in the Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk. The automobiles passing by support the protesters with signals.