The Red Church and the Rigged Election

For years I had heard about the poor economic and political situation in Bealrus, but it was not until I arrived in Minsk on Monday night that I fully understood. Upon checking into our flat, the owner of the apartment specifically told us to not open the door for anyone - even police. Not even 2 hours had passed before we heard a loud knock on the door and sure enough it was two police men inspecting the building for guns and accounting for residents. We tried to ignore them, and after a while they stopped knocking, but as were were leaving the building for dinner later that night they caught up with us. After hearing so many stories about the corrupt Belorussian police and KGB we were all a bit scared but after writing down all of the information on our passports they let us go. So now the Belorussian government has my information... hey maybe the KGB could send me a present on my birthday!

Belarus KGB Building located just a few minutes from our apartment in Minsk

One of the girls in our group who goes to school in Minsk showed us around the city. It is a beautiful city with many parks, gorgeous theaters, statues and monuments. Yesterday she took us to the Red Church, which has a very interesting history but is most recently known as the site where about ten thousand people gathered on Dec. 19 to protest the outcome of the 2010 presidential election in Belarus. Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1996, won 80 percent of the vote, while his closest competitor, Andrei Sannikov, received just 2.5 percent. Those protesting claimed that the vote was rigged. Shortly after the election, the Belorussian government shut down the European Organization for Security and Cooperation that monitors the fairness of the elections. Five candidates who ran against Lukashenko were arrested for "helping organize the mass disturbances" and 19 others who attended the protests were arrested and are now serving extended jail sentences. Flowers, candles and photographs had been placed at a monument at the Red Church to commemorate these events and those who are still being held by the government.



Read more about the election and protests and view photographs of the actual protest.