Former presidential candidate in Belarus and leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya believes that at the moment the demonstrators have lost the streets. She spoke about this in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
“I have to admit that we have lost the streets, we have no opportunity to fight the violence of the regime against the protesters. The [authorities] have weapons, strength, so at the moment it seems that we have lost,” Tikhanovskaya admitted. / p>
At the same time, she noted that the opposition “is building structures for tomorrow’s struggle.” In particular, we are talking about an attempt to connect various opposition groups at the level of doctors, teachers or former security officials.
Tikhanovskaya added that now the strategy is to put pressure on the authorities until people are ready to take to the streets again. In her opinion, this may happen in spring.
In Belarus, protests continue for six months after the presidential elections on August 9, 2020, according to which Alexander Lukashenko received 80 percent of the vote. The actions of citizens who disagree with the results are harshly suppressed by the police and riot police. Tens of thousands of people were detained, and many spoke of torture and beatings in isolation wards. Four people were killed in clashes with security forces.