During the second day of mass protests in Belarus, where Minsk demonstrations were joined by people in other Belarusian cities, protesters flocked to the streets of the nation's capital, hurled Molotov cocktails at the police, and constructed trash can barricades.
At least one protester died in Minsk, according to the country's Interior Ministry. In one of Minsk's hotspots, near Pushkinskaya Square, law enforcement used tear gas, light-noise grenades, and rubber bullets against protesters.
The demonstrations started in Belarus after the preliminary results of the nation's presidential election saw incumbent Alexander Lukashenko receiving 80% of the vote - something that was vehemently dismissed by the opposition. Lukashenko's rival, Svetlana Tikhonovskaya, has since filed a complaint over the election results with the Central Election Committee.
Video footage showed trash can barricades being erected by the demonstrators.
Баррикады в Минске pic.twitter.com/DAMn2SdG0l
— Alex B.Geroldin (@BGeroldin) August 10, 2020
More and more barricades pop up all over Minsk, #Belarus pic.twitter.com/3rHSZJLLcy
— Tadeusz Giczan (@TadeuszGiczan) August 10, 2020
Another video depicted special vehicles destroying the said barricades.
Автозак таранит баррикады. Минск. pic.twitter.com/XNWbUr5Da4
— Ilya Pahomov (@ilyapahomov) August 10, 2020
Protesters were even recorded attacking the riot police with appeared to be Molotov cocktails.
Another video of protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at the police near Spartyunaya metro station in #Minsk, #Belarus: pic.twitter.com/PVcYRerXoM
— Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) August 10, 2020
Footage allegedly captured at the scene showed riot police using stun grenades to disperse protesters.
Минск. Гранаты. pic.twitter.com/2rDKvob4wC
— Грани.Ру (@GraniTweet) August 10, 2020
On Pushkinskaya Square, a tear gas shell was even thrown onto a balcony of a nearby apartment building.
Обстановка возле Пушкинской около полуночи. Снаряд со слезоточивым газом попал на балкон. pic.twitter.com/QNXj9iBOZb
— TUT.BY (@tutby) August 10, 2020
Explosions could be heard in the vicinity of Pushkinskaya Square. Protesters were seen launching fireworks at law enforcement officers.
Protesters in Minsk return fire to the police with fireworks pic.twitter.com/yDkC8ZXH8S
— Tadeusz Giczan (@TadeuszGiczan) August 10, 2020
Возле Пушкинской сегодня было много взрывов. pic.twitter.com/MbehTp0WZ9
— TUT.BY (@tutby) August 10, 2020
Videos shared on social media also appeared to show a car hitting a group of law enforcement officers.
У народа сдали нервы! Водитель сбил ОМОН#Тихановская #Лукашенко #Беларусь #жывебеларусь #ОМОН #Минск #Майдан pic.twitter.com/mBtFo3U0jU
— NEXTA БЕЛАРУСЬ (@incident_doneck) August 10, 2020
Since the protests started on Sunday night after the preliminary results of the country's presidential election showed incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko winning the election with over 80 percent of the vote several Russian media outlets, including Sputnik Belarus, RT, TV Rain, Meduza, and Daily Storm, have said that their reporters have been detained in Minsk. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was personally looking into the situation with arrested reporters.
On Monday, the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency passed along information about photojournalist Ilya Pitalev, who went fell off radar screens on Monday evening, to the Russian Embassy in Minsk.
