Tear gas, torture, water cannons, flash grenades and firearms - the Belarusian state is using its entire arsenal against citizens in order to suppress the post-election protest movement. But so far, this response is producing the opposite effect: more and more people are coming out onto the streets of Belarusian towns in response to police violence.
Indeed, the more Belarusian police beat the country’s more vulnerable citizens - pensioners, women - the greater the public outrage. After Minsk police used tear gas to disperse a pensioners’ protest on 12 October, people living with disabilities set up a channel (“Brave Disabled People of Belarus”) on Telegram, the popular social media app, and planned their own protest march. There are now demonstrations held practically every day of the week in Belarus - women protest on Saturdays, pensioners on Mondays and general protests happen on Sundays.
People with disabilities chose Thursday as their protest day - and last Thursday, I visited the second “March of people with (un)limited capabilities”. I asked participants about why they came out to protest. openDemocracy publishes their words in full.
