from the violence of a totalitarian regime

During the protests that followed the disputed 2020 presidential election of Aleksandr Lukashenko, protestors covered the Square of Changes with red and white ribbons as a tribute to the flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic and a symbol of resistance against the totalitarian regime. In November 2020, a group of masked individuals, believed to be government officers, arrived at the square and began cutting down all the ribbons. Raman Bandarenka, a local resident, was home when he learned what was happening. He immediately went to the square to bear witness. Upon arriving, he was beaten by the masked men and died in a hospital the following day.

Anonymous in Peremen Square or The Square of Changes, Minsk