Law enforcement officers of Belarus used special equipment in response to aggression from the protesters in Minsk, including stun cartridges. This was announced on Monday, October 12, by Roman Lashkevich, a spokesman for the Municipal Department of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Executive Committee.
“The police officers used flash-noise cartridges from the Wasp pistol and tear gas only after bottles and sticks were thrown at them from the protesters,” TASS quotes him.
Earlier on Monday, a march of pensioners took place in the capital of the republic. The demonstrators began their march from the Independence Square. More than a thousand people took part in the march.
Organized, non-march youths staged unauthorized protests in several districts of the city. The security forces carried out detentions, tear gas was used, the portal TUT.by writes.
On the same day, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic reported that the power structures of Belarus are ready to use military weapons to maintain order in the streets of Minsk. The department said that the number of participants in unauthorized protests in Belarus has decreased, but at the same time the aggressiveness of the crowd has increased.
The total number of protesters across the country on October 11 was about 11 thousand people, while 713 citizens were detained “for violating the legislation on mass events,” the Interior Ministry said.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, the current head of state, Alexander Lukashenko, won. Those who disagreed with this result began to take to the streets. Clashes with law enforcement officers began, and the protests continue to this day.
Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya refused to acknowledge the election results and called on the international community to support the demonstrators. The EU and the USA were considered illegitimate President Lukashenko.