Lukashenka Is Terrified Of Popular Uprising

The security forces began to strengthen their buildings.

Even four years after the suppression of mass protests, the agencies of the Lukashenka regime still feel threatened.

According to information from the public procurement website, since 2020, the number of applications for the installation of protective blinds on the windows of public institutions has increased more than 5 times, Nasha Niva writes.

In the year of the presidential election, there were only 35 such positions, while almost half were museums, hospitals, executive committees and non-force agencies.

In 2021, the number of applications doubled to 77. In March, protective blinds were installed on all windows of the buildings of the State Security Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which form a closed quarter on Nezavisimosti Avenue. A real fortress appeared in the center of the capital to protect it from its own citizens. During the protests, it was at the beginning of Nezalezhnosti Avenue, where the Government House, the Minsk City Executive Committee and the named law enforcement agencies are located, that the largest concentration of dissatisfied with Lukashenka's endless rule gathered.

Lukashenka supporters, obviously, seriously feared that the protesters would occupy government buildings, including buildings of law enforcement agencies, where weapons are stored, especially since in the courtyard of the KGB-MIA there was a "American prison", where at that time there were some protest leaders. However, the protesters did not make any attempts to seize the buildings.

The blinds on the buildings were installed illegally — both buildings have the status of historical and cultural values, and all work on them, especially on the facades, which may affect the appearance of architectural monuments, must be agreed with local authorities and the Ministry of Culture.

The Ministry of Culture reported that no approval for the installation of roller shutters was given and recommended that the departments occupying these buildings bring the facades in proper condition. In such cases, the blinds can be installed from the inside, but for more than two years, neither the KGB nor the Ministry of Internal Affairs have complied with the order.

Many windows in these buildings have an arched shape, and to close them with shutters from the outside, it was necessary to close the semicircular part. Despite the fact that in subsequent years there was no particular threat to the buildings, some shutters are kept lowered all the time, which makes the facades look even more untidy, like a number of outlets on the market before closing when some have already stopped trade and closed, and some are still working.

In 2021, it seemed that all the key facilities for the regime had already been fortified. However, the Belarusian security forces themselves apparently did not think so. A real boom in applications for reinforced shutters registered in the following years. In 2022, there were about 136 applications on the public procurement website, in 2023 — about 190, and in incomplete 2024 — about 116 applications.

They have also begun to strengthen military commissariats, prosecutor's offices, departments of internal affairs of executive committees, institutions subordinate to the Lukashenka Affairs Department, military units and other units of law enforcement agencies.

In the list of recent objects on the public procurement website there is also a building at Nezalezhnosti, 27. In 1940, it was built as a hotel of the Belarusian Military District according to the project of the architect Gerasim Yakushko, and today it is the 2nd building of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus and an object of historical and cultural republican significance.

Previously, the entrances to the building were through the side wings facing the avenue, but the passage to them has long been blocked with a fence, and you can enter the building only through the side gate and checkpoint.

Apparently, in this case, they could not completely ignore the legislation, as the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did earlier, since the application on the website is looking for someone who can scientifically justify the installation of blinds on the facades of the monument.

However, according to another application for the beginning of September, 28 shutters for this building have already been ordered, they need only formal approval.

The fact that there are such security measures in Belarus even regarding buildings that are not symbolically significant, four years after the mass protests, indicates that the fear of a popular uprising still persists.

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