Foreign Secretary Tomáš Petříček offered a new program which is supposed to support Belarusian citizens who suffered from repressions during the protests.
Petříček gave an interview to the Belarusian section of Radio Free Europe explaining the position of the Czech government and that he is ready to present this program to the ministers on Monday next week.
The support will be presented in the form of money for juridical and psychological aid. Petříček believes that funds will also go to Belarusian media, which can objectively represent the news compared to the state ones. He added that Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will agree with this idea.
Jan Hamáček, Minister of Internal Affairs, added that Czech hospitals have enough space to take care of the injured people from Belarus shall they be interested in transportation. The Czech government is ready to pay for treatment and transit.
The protests began after the presidential elections on August 9th. Alexander Lukashenko, who has been the president of Belarus for 26 years, was declared to have won the elections, yet again. The protesters didn’t recognize those results, since most of them supported the oppositional candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The media reports that protesters were beaten severely or sent to prison without any specific reasons. The police did not only hurt the protesters, but also women, elders, and children. About 7,000 people have been detained, and about 4,000 remain in prison. Ninety people are still missing. Several people are dead, but the exact number is not known.
This Wednesday, the leaders of the European Union countries announced that the election results were rigged and offered sanctions against Lukashenko, his relatives, and colleagues.
Nearly 1000 people participated in the demonstrations “Free Belarus” in Prague last Sunday. Participants brought self-made posters saying “Lukashenko, leave” and EU flags. Organizers promise a new protest in the form of a human chain across the Charles Bridge this Sunday at 6 pm.
