Have you heard about Belarus?

Since May of 2020, Belarus has been experiencing a period of great uncertainty, littered with protests, authoritarianism and brutality. The demonstrations revolve around 'President' Lukashenko, who has served as the first and only president of Belarus since the establishment of the office 26-years ago . The demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election in which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office. They were peaceful and relatively modest. However, when election results were announced on the night of August 10, the narrative changed. Lukashenko was declared the winner.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opponent to Lukashenko rejected the results as falsified.

Whilst in exile in Lithuania she issued three demands: Mr Lukashenko's resignation, an immediate end to police brutality and the release of all political prisoners. President Alexander Lukashenko ignored the opposition's midnight deadline for him to step down, and remains defiant to challenges against him.

Sviatlana's concern in this matter extends further than that of a simple political leader. Her partner, Sergei Tikhanovsky, a popular opposition blogger and YouTube documentarian, is one of the many being held as a political prisoner within Belarus. Amnesty International have called the pro-democracy activist a 'prisoner of conscience'.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets every week since the election to declare it rigged. Lukashenko appears largely unphased by the claims, countering that the demonstrators are paid and manipulated by foreign powers, and claiming they are alcoholics and drug addicts.

What is striking about the Belarusian people is that prior to this period of unrest, very few of the people now gathered in protest took any interest in politics, they felt Lukashenko's and his governments nee-Soviet authoritarianism did not affect their lives much. But things have changed quickly in Belarus, with a large portion of the population developing political consciousness in a remarkably short time.

Thousands of pensioners walked through central Minsk, now part of their weekly routine, merging with a procession of students, demonstrating despite threats of expulsion. Police in helmets and body armour threw women holding flowers and balloons into police vans, officer's tear-gas elderly people, men in balaclavas chase musicians for singing songs from popular cartoons in courtyards. Thousands of people have been arrested, hundreds in a single mass demonstration.17,000 have been detained, thousands of them brutally beaten or subjected to other rights abuses.

Despite these risks, they continue to pour into the streets demanding change. Eye-witnesses have claimed "they attacked us again and again. It was awful. They ferociously beat people, twisted their arms and took them away," "it felt like World War Two, when people tried to hide Jews from the Nazis. It was terrifying, we were shocked." Yet the Belarusian people remain defiant, rooting themselves in the fight for their freedoms and democracy.

On the 11 November, Roman Bondarenko, an anti-government protester, died in the hospital after being 'beaten into a coma by plain-clothesmen', who many believed to be security forces. Bondarenko was attacked when he went into 'Changes Square' to challenge a group of people in civilian uniforms cutting off white-red-white ribbons, a mural to the protest movement against Lukashenko. According to neighbours, Roman was "professionally detained" and taken away in a minibus before being admitted to the hospital by the Central District Department of Internal Affairs of Minsk, stating "he got injured in a fight".

Bondarenko's death triggered thousands of people to take to the streets of Minsk, carrying flowers and candles, linking arms to create 'human chains of solidarity' and carrying banners - some simply stating "stop killing us." The Ministry of Internal Affairs denied responsibility for his death saying he was drunk and killed due to a scuffle with civilians, a point heavily disputed in local media who have cited the official medical report into his death.

The EU has already imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and several dozen officials over their role in the security crackdown, with Peter Stano, the EU's spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy calling the death "an outrageous and shameful result of the actions by the Belarusian authorities" who have "directly and violently carried out repression of their own population."

After over 100 days of protests against an oppressive and authoritarian government the three simple goals of the Belarusian population remain at an arm's reach away. With authorities continuing to rule by terror, targeting dissenting voices with violence and imprisonment, and Lukashenko being progressively isolated by other countries, fears grow of the possibility of another 'iron curtain' descending on Europe.

You can help. Say their names, spread their message and do not let the world forget about their aims.