Witnesses said officers pushed the crowd of about 3,000 back in a bid to end a week of unprecedented protests in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic. Demonstrators were shouting "Shame!" and "Long live Belarus!" as riot police blocked Minsk’s central Oktyabrskaya Square.
"This is a disgrace for Belarus," Internet website TurkishPress.com quoted 74-year-old Ernst Sabila, a pastor with the Belarussian Evangelical Church, as saying.
Police refused to allow him entry to the square where protestors had camped earlier in the week, reporters said. "We gathered to celebrate our independence and the enemies of the people closed the square," added the pastor, whose church has long been at odds with Belarus’ Orthodox authorities.
NEW MOVEMENT
Nearby, opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich led another crowd of several thousand to a nearby park, where he announced "the creation of a movement for the liberation of Belarus," but he admitted crowds were still too small to see a political change soon.
Pastor Sabila came to demonstrate against a government that reportedly liquidated his church and ordered him to pay for this procedure, as part of an alleged widening crackdown on independent congregations.
Sabila refused to pay the $60 in local currency on principal grounds. "As long as I live, I will not denounce my Christian faith. I will also not denounce my being a patriot of Belarus; I will continue working toward supporting Belarusian Christianity. If needed, we will be ready for any sacrifice. Just as Christ did," he told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty before Saturday’s demonstration.
"No one can prohibit people to pray. We will prey in Belarusian, read the Bible in Belarusian, sing in Belarusian… That’s who we are, Belarusian Christians," he added. It was unclear how many other Christians were among the at least 200 anti-government protestors detained Saturday, March 25 and in recent days.
FREEDOM DAY
They were staging their demonstration in Minsk Saturday, March 25, as it is an unofficial holiday for the opposition known as Freedom Day, which celebrates Belarus’ first brief period of independence from Russia in 1918.
Religious freedom and freedom of expression are among key demands of opposition supporters who say the March 19 presidential poll was rigged.
Churches, including growing evangelical congregations, are among groups especially closely monitored by Belarusian authorities for fear of losing their power base, analysts say.
The official Orthodox Church in Belarus has long cooperated with the Lukashenko government, but a growing number of Orthodox Christians are believed to attend newer, more pro-Western churches, including evangelical congregations.
Well-informed human rights group Forum 18 said that before last Sunday’s election, Baptist pastor Georgi Vyazovsky was singled out to complete a ten-day prison sentence in the capital Minsk for conducting a worship service in his home. His imprisonment also sends a strong government message to other evangelicals.
GUARDS "AMAZED"
Vyazovsky reportedly said the prison guards were however "amazed" he had been locked up under controversial religious legislation. "They’d never had such a case before – one of the staff remarked that the judge must have gone crazy," he told Forum 18 News Service following his March 13 release.
The embattled New Life Church, one of many Full Gospel churches in Minsk, urged a month of
prayers on its website. "Now as never before Belarus needs our prayer," said Senior Pastor Slava Goncharenko.
"Now is the time to humble before God and to wait on His mercy for all our people," he added.
Authorities have been trying to close down the church building of New Life which claims to have over 1000 people members and regular attendees.
What began in 1991 with a small group of young people grew into a church with 10 branch congregations across Belarus "and beyond" with nearly 600 members, the church said.
A prayer vigil of evangelical Christians continued amid reports that many protesters were detained Saturday, March 25, including one of the opposition leaders, Alexander Kozulin.
COMMUNIST TIME
A representative of Christian group Bible Mission International, Paul Hagelgans, told Christian broadcaster Mission Network News earlier that the situation reminded him to "the Communist time in the former Soviet Union. It reminds me exactly what I experienced when I was growing up," before leaving for the West.
However despite restrictions on churches, "personal evangelism, home Bible study fellowship, house to house evangelism outreach, church planting," is continuing and Bible Mission International trained 3,000 Christians in Belarus "in all of these areas" Hagelgans said. He added that he is "confident the church will grow", just as it has in places like China with up to 80-million Christians.
"We see how Christianity is growing there. We probably have the same situation, or close, in Belarus. I see a lot of opportunity if every believer will be faithful to God and to share their testimony to others," Hagelgans said.
Meanwhile the European Union and the United States have threatened with sanctions if opposition supporters remain detained and the crackdown on freedom of expression continues. But in a statement seen by BosNewsLife, Belarus’ Foreign Ministry warned the sanctions had "no prospects," and that Belarus reserves the right to take retaliatory measures.
RUSSIA SUPPORT
While the West has described the recent election as undemocratic, Russia has said it supports the outcome of the poll in neighboring Belarus. Analysts say Moscow does not want to see similar revolutions as in neighboring Ukraine and Georgia, where pro-Western government have been installed.
The Lukashenko government has denied the election was unfair. In published remarks, Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov also said that opposition leader Kozulin had begun "to call on people to attack the state and restricted installations and even for the physical liquidation of the head of state."
Lukashenko has made clear he will not allow similar demonstrations as those that toppled presidents elsewhere in the region.
