External Ring Is Shrinking Around Lukashenka

Belarusian protest changes forms but does not deflate.

Experts believe the social contract between the authorities and society in Belarus is broken and cannot be restored. The opposition's foreign policy activities are also slowly but inevitably undermining Aliaksandr Lukashenka's external legitimacy, reports Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Another Sunday protest rally - March of People's Charge - was held in Minsk on December 13th. It's the fourth Sunday Belarusians do not tend to gather in one place in the city centre, but walk around their neighbourhood in numerous columns. Last Sunday, it was the first time in four months in the Belarusian capital when the authorities neither blocked the Internet nor closed the underground. Also, there were no announcements of gathering points for the protesters. Telegram-chats released different information, aiming to trip up security forces. They wrote about the gathering in the centre, and "walks" in the neighbourhoods. The Belarusians took to the next level of self-organization - the places of the gathering are announced either in closed chats or "by word of mouth". Moreover, the protesters are not waiting for Sunday, but are going out every day again, in the evenings. Until the security forces refocused on daily duty calls.

All the rest remained unchanged: special equipment (vehicles, water cannons and security systems) and buses with law enforcers were taken into the city from military units. As on the previous weekend, they deployed in the neighbourhoods. Protesters gathered in groups in their yards, joined with residents of neighbouring yards and streets, and walked around under white-red-white flags, chanting the traditional "Long Live Belarus! We believe. We Will Win". Tactics of law enforcement officers concerning the protesters have not changed either - they consider every person going outdoors on Sunday as a participant of the protest action.

In modern Belarus, it takes little to look suspicious. The space of freedom is gradually narrowing. Previously, when several hundred thousand people used to take to the streets and the city centre, one could walk freely in the courtyards, not to mention the complete freedom in our homes. Picketing has become a common crime in Belarus when citizens hang white-red-white flags or even underwear of this colour in the windows and on balconies.

Christmas decorations in the white-red-and-white colour scheme are now also a "crime". "According to the existing legislation, in particular, Article 10 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Mass Events", placement of white-red-white flags on windows and balconies for public demonstration is interpreted as a mass event - picketing. In case of absence of the appropriate permission of the Minsk City Executive Committee, the authorities impose administrative responsibility for this action (Article 23.34 part 1 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus). The sanction provides for a fine of up to 30 basic units or administrative arrest," said Deputy Head of Pershamaiski District Police Department - Head of the Public Security Police Siarhei Artiomenka - in his commentary. The website of Minsk city executive committee reports that 20 such protocols have already been drawn up in the Belarusian capital as of 10 December. For example, Tuesday, December 15, Kastrychnitski district court of Minsk will try 87-year-old Yelizaveta Bursava - a Jewess, who accidentally survived in the war - for having hung a flag on the balcony.

Belarus has banned red and white Father Christmas. It is recommended to wear blue and white suits. Besides, Belarusians have come up with a new form of protest, and public utilities workers have a new job with the onset of winter. The first ones "freeze" the white-red-white flags in the ice, while the second ones chop them out with axes and saws. Protest against the authorities and rejection of them has become a constant in Belarusian society that Aliaksandr Lukashenka cannot stifle.

"They are fighting windmills. WRW flag is a symbol, not the essence. They can rip off all the flags from the windows, but they will never be able to erase these images from our memory. One cannot turn back the hands of time. It won't be the way it was," Belarusian tennis player Volha Barabanshchykava wrote about the public sentiments.

The external legitimacy of Aliaksandr Lukashenka is crumbling. Maybe not as fast as the protesting Belarusians would like to see. However, the outer ring around Aliaksandr Lukashenka is gradually shrinking. As reported last week, the International Olympic Committee delivered a severe blow to him by banning him from participation in Olympic events. On Saturday, it became known that official Switzerland had imposed sanctions on Lukashenka, his son Viktar and some Belarusian officials. The statement has been published on the website of the Swiss Federal Council. Lukashenka's assets in banks in the country have also been frozen, the statement says.