List of events
Events in the year 2020 in Belarus.
Events
Ongoing – 2020-2021 Belarusian protests; COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus
February
March
April
- 9 April – A mandatory 14-day self-isolation requirement was issued for foreigners and citizens with either confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, or the status of first or second level contact. The penalties for breaking the requirement include administrative detention, fines and imprisonment.[11]
- 20 April – Schools in the country reopen, but authorities say that parents are allowed to keep their children at home despite lifting of restrictions.[12]
May
- 9 May – The country received 100,000 rapid diagnostic COVID-19 tests from China to help combat the pandemic in the country, with another batch expected to be delivered in the coming week.[13]
June
July
August
- 6 August – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says security forces have arrested "a number of" U.S. citizens, just days before the country goes to the polls for a presidential election. In the speech, Lukashenko claims Belarus is the victim of a "hybrid war", and that "we should expect dirty tricks from any side".[20]
- 8 August – On the eve of a presidential election, Belarusian security forces arrest Maria Moroz, the campaign manager of leading opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and three Open Russia activists who traveled to Belarus to "observe Sunday's presidential election".[21]
- 9 August
- Citizens of Belarus head to the polls to elect the country's president. Long-ruling Alexander Lukashenko is challenged by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya after her husband and pro-democracy activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski was jailed and banned from the vote like other prominent opposition figures. Protesters and journalists were also detained in the weeks leading to the election.[22]
- A state television exit poll shows President Alexander Lukashenko winning 79.7% of the vote. These results have been dismissed by the main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who criticized them has "massively rigged".[23][24]
- Lukashenko, in power since 1994, declares a landslide victory against the opposition, as riot police clash with protesters in the capital Minsk. Protests in reaction to the disputed results have been reported in at least 20 other Belarusian cities. Fifty civilians and thirty-nine police officers were injured, while at least 3,000 protesters are arrested across the country, one-third of them in Minsk.[25][26]
- A police van in Minsk rams a group of protesters, hitting one of them. The condition of the victim is unknown, with reports of his death not confirmed.[27]
- NetBlocks reports that the internet has been "significantly disrupted" in Belarus, with a near total blackout in Minsk.[28]
- 10 August
- During the second day of protests across Belarus, police fire rubber bullets to disperse protesters in the capital Minsk, wounding a journalist. About 30 people are arrested in the city; some protestors were beaten by police.[29]
- A protester in Minsk is killed after an explosive device blows up in his hands while he tried to throw it. It is the first death during the protests.[30]
- 11 August – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya flees Belarus to her family in Lithuania, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius. Tsikhanouskaya had gone into hiding after the disputed election, which she accuses President Alexander Lukashenko of rigging.[31]
- 12 August – Lithuania allows "unrestricted entry" to all Belarusians "for humanitarian purposes" amid anti-government protests and political repression in neighbouring Belarus. Existing COVID-19 restrictions will not apply to Belarusians.[32]
- 13 August
- A 25-year-old man from the city of Gomel becomes the second protester killed since protests in Belarus against the government began. He died while in police custody, according to his family.[33]
- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet condemns the use of violence by Belarusian authorities against protesters, and calls for the release of all political prisoners in the country.[34]
- Belarusian women form human chains to condemn a crackdown on protests over the disputed election.[35]
- Factory workers from state-run factories joined the protest. Tens of thousands of people protested for the fifth day in a row against the election results. The protesters marched through Minsk and formed human chains.[36]
- 14 August
- 15 August
- 16 August
- 17 August
- 18 August – Lithuanian MPs approve economic sanctions against Belarus over the contested presidential elections. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius says Lithuania is "sending a strong message to the world" and refuses to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as President.[52]
- 19 August
- 23 August
- Tens of thousands rally in Independence Square, Minsk, calling for President Alexander Lukashenko to step down, despite a police ban on protests in the capital.[55]
- The Ministry of Defence describes anti-Lukashenko protesters as "fascists", and says the army will take over the protection of war memorials from local police forces.[56]
- Footage shows Alexander Lukashenko departing a military helicopter outside the Independence Palace in Minsk, brandishing an assault rifle and wearing a bullet-proof vest. He then greeted a cordon of security forces guarding the palace. He was accompanied by his son Nikolai Lukashenko. In another video, Lukashenko can be heard saying "They’ve run away like rats", while observing a protest in his helicopter.[57]
- 24 August – The Coordinating Council of the Belarusian opposition report that two of its members, Sergei Dylevsky and Olga Kovalkova, have been detained by police in Minsk.[58]
- 27 August – Police in Belarus arrest 20 journalists who were planning to cover a protest in Minsk and confiscated their telephones and identity documents. The interior ministry later said that the journalists had been driven to the police station to check they had valid accreditation allowing them to work as journalists.[59]
September
- 23 September – Spontaneous protests broke out in Minsk after an unannounced inauguration ceremony of President Alexander Lukashenko took place. Authorities fired tear gas, deployed water cannons and arrested more than 150 protesters from the gathering.[60]
