About 46,000 people took part in the protests in Minsk at their hottest phase, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the Big Conversation with the President, a meeting with the public, experts and media community in the format of a big press conference in Minsk on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
“According to calculations, 46,700 people took to the streets at the height of protests in Minsk. People flocked to the capital city from all over the country. It was not a problem to present it the way one wanted. The picture looked impressive,” the head of state said.
As Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, there could have been more people on the streets. “I am aware that there could have been more of them. In fact, about 10% of Belarusian voters never voted for me. These people rejected me from the very first elections, because they lost the elections to me - these are nationalistically minded people, with a fascist core. But this nationalistic core is somewhere on the flanks. These people want sovereignty and independence from everyone, and above all - from Russia, at best. And those who are closer to the core are fascists,” he noted.
“For an experienced person like me, these 46,000 were not a disaster. Pictures showed that the crowd was spearheaded by militants and the like, while the youth looking for hype was marching at the tail end. There were also onlookers on the sidelines. Here was a picture for you,” the head of state noted.
Aleksandr Lukashenko frankly answered a question about his attitude towards protesters: “How do I perceive them? They are part of Belarusian people. The answer to this question is absolutely unambiguous. People from all walks of life are my people.” According to the president, many were wrong thinking that people in high places upheld the protests. “I didn't even fire anyone. I'll not name the names, but I want to say that I talked to some members of the Belarus President Administration for two hours. I told them how the violence was organized. They all came to understand this and now they sometimes avert their eyes at meetings hosted by me. However, there are people who committed and planned terrorist attacks against people, including against children. And I will speak with them using their language, protecting not so much myself and my children as your children,” he said.
“Time has passed. We have exposed who is who,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
