March 25, 2005, Minsk, Belarus

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<p>At March 25, several thousand of people demanded the release of

political prisoners and resignation of the Belarussian president

Alexander Lukashenko.

 

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These are actually the first photos I've seen of Minsk. Your police are more camera friendly then some of ours here in the states. For some reason, I liked the compositions on the 3rd, 4th and 6th frames. What are the crew at the McDonalds restaurant looking at?

And what happened? I didn't hear a thing about this (that's cause I live in the USA.)

<p>The police wasn't particularily brutal that day, yes, but it still involved some jogging. They wouldn't hesitate to kick your butt if you happen to get in their way, and in general they aren't thought of as friendly: broken equipment and physical damage is not uncommon. The event took place just days after the Kyrgyz revolution, so the law enforcement was working with caution.

 

<p>The McDonalds people were gazing at the arrests near the restaurant: you can see the McD sign on the shots #6 and #7. Everyone in the restaurant and the nearby shops were locked inside by police for about an hour, until the police have squeezed the crowd to the adjacent streets.

 

<p>The <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4230299.stm">BBC</a> has a good review on the overall situation in the country. I've also covered the protests here before: see <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009vve">this</a> and <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009qMC">this</a>.

I read news about Lukashenko wanting to join Belarus with Russia. You, people, will need to get rid of this man, otherwise this will happen.

Ahto,

 

Actually the union with Russia is of lesser concern. It is largely a populist move to keep his electoral base happy: it is very unlikely that a person who made legal provisions for his life-time presidency would ever abandon his power and position.