A thousand or so Belorussian freedom fighters camped out in October Square all night without much food, tea, or things to keep them warm. Because the police wouldn’t let anyone help or join them. They survived the below-freezing temperatures and the threat of a bloodbath. These protestors swore to be there for good and they are, holding their ground all night and now all day. Having survived, what happens next is crucial.

The protest on March 20 seemed to gain, in physical numbers, only about half the number of people as on election night. There were likely no more than 6000 people at any one time.

That’s because an even stronger force of riot police than the night before unloaded at Karl Marx St. and dispersed throughout neighborhoods surrounding October Square, preventing pedestrians from joining the current protestors. When people left to bring food, they would not be allowed to re-enter. Those not close to a group were arrested; some 110 people are now on trial. The authorities even shut down the trains. The sheer number of people trying to see what was going on and all of the cars that honked while passing by shows that these protests have awoken the Belorussian heart and mind to the idea that they are not all that different from the free people of the world.

Milinkevich has called the people out once more to rally at October Square today at 6:30 p.m. They will join the ardent activists who stayed all night and set up a small tent city. The success of the actual gathering will depend on if people can physically reach the square. But regardless of what happens today, thousands of people have finally connected with each other like they never have before. These connections will continue to grow between likeminded people until one day — if not now, then eventually — Belarus is free.

The government is afraid of this and is trying to keep people as separate as possible. Instead of launching DDoS attacks on opposition news site Charter 97 as it did the previous two days, it has blocked access to the site in Belarus completely. But the story lives on, as LiveJournal users are quickly spreading the word. And through imagery, they post photos by the dozen using Flickr. By internet and mobile phone, though the government controls the media outright, democratic opposition activists are spreading the word about what is happening in October Square. No matter how much the government tries to stop it, these events will go down in history as the beginning of a long sequence that eventually leads to Lukashenko’s downfall.

In exactly an hour and a half from now, we will see if Milinkevich’s call will be heeded, or if it will be allowed to be heeded. Until then, stay tuned. We have another long day of blogging ahead of us.

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The protestors made it through the morning and the day. Ivan Lenin translates some LiveJournal users that say that, in the early hours before the break of dawn, the mood is good and the police will have to end their barricade when the city awakens. It is just past 6:30 p.m. now, which means the rally should already be under way. Meanwhile, the European Parliament itself has declared the elections undemocratic and has demanded a repeat election. Stay tuned for more updates immediately.

It must be beginning, because Charter 97 is now suffering a DDoS attack. Take a look at these conversations with people on the square.

8:00: Just about everything is down right now and nobody I can tell has really updated. BelaPAN says that the crowd in October Square started swelling even before 6:30, Milinkevich has addressed the crowd, and protestors are emanding Lukashenko’s resignation. As of right now it is an hour and a half past when the protests officially started and yet information is going through a black-out. We must continue to wait and see.

FINALLY: Charter 97 has an update from 7 p.m. that is finally up, saying that around 5000 people are on the square and the amplifying equipment is being brought out. According to it, along with two LiveJournal users, a dozen OMAN (special forces) buses are arriving at the square. We do not know whether this is a rotation of guard or not, but according to the rumors they are tasked with destroying the tent camp as soon as the journalists leave. Even more, they are not to arrest Milinkevich and Kozulin, just everyone else, so it appears that their support is dwindling. European diplomats are also wandering around the square giving support to the demonstrators.

Another post at around 7:45 says that Milinkevich has spoken and said that everyone is to meet on October Square on March 25, which is Freedom Day in Belarus. The day commemorates when the Belarus People’s Republic was created when under occupation by the Germans. While the government does not celebrate it for this reason, opposition forces always use it as a chance to demonstrate. I covered the protest exactly one year ago, when only about 300-400 people were able to go to October Square. They had been refused a permit because the square, according to the authorities, “is not designed for events involving more than 1,000 people.”

Damn, have they been proven wrong! Back then, even with protest babes afoot, they were beaten up and arrested within minutes. Now they’re protesting for days. In just a year, the political atmosphere has changed because of the democratic opposition’s bravery. While they might not succeed in forcing new election — and those chances are very slim — in the least they have created the conditions to where Lukashenko will never be able to rule as brutally as he did before.

THE LATEST: The AP finally gets something up.

A defiant opposition leader urged supporters camped in a freezing central square Tuesday night to keep up their daily demonstrations against authoritarian Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who was re-elected in voting widely denounced as a farce.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich also called for a large show of strength on Saturday.

“We will stay here until the 25th, and on the 25th we will gather here to fight for our future,” Milinkevich told the crowd on the third day of protests of Sunday’s election that gave Lukashenko five more years in power. “Come here every day to speak of freedom.”

Speaking in the glow from TV cameras after lighting on Oktyabrskaya Square was shut off, Milinkevich said that “the authorities want to destroy this small city of freedom” – referring to a tent camp where dozens of demonstrators spent the night. “We will not let them do it.”

Milinkevich had said earlier that he planned to urge demonstrators to end their unprecedented three-day protest later Tuesday and resume it on Saturday. But when he arrived at the square, he made no call for the tents to be removed and stressed protests should be kept up.

Halting the daily protests could have led to a loss of momentum, and removal of the tent camp could have been seen as ceding the square – both symbolically and physically – to the authorities.

So it looks like October Square is going to be held permanently, regardless of how many people are able to stay, until Saturday. Which means Saturday is the big day. It’s around 10:15 over there now and Charter 97 hasn’t made an update, and neither has anyone else. It looks like this could be it in terms of news for now, but if there’s anything else I’ll make an update.

According to the Belarus briefing I received in my email from the Pontis Foundation notes that while the police were searching bags of pedestrians to make sure they weren’t bringing the protestors food, they left the scene immediately once the European diplomats arrived. The busing of special police into the area occurred as a redeployment once the diplomats left.

OPPOSITION SPLIT, KIND OF: Opposition candidate and career politician Kozulin held a meeting with Milinkevich in which they agreed upon things like the need to come back out on Saturday. However, they disagreed upon staying. When Kozulin heard that Milinkevich would stay on the square, he called on his supporters to go home. But they did not leave. The link above has translations of LiveJournal users chronicling the occurence and notes that the opposition’s weak spot has been the leadership. Kozulin is an opportunist and Milinkevich is something of a professional oppositionist; that is, he is perceived as not needing to gain power because he will receive aid from the West regardless. It is important to note, however, that despite Kozulin’s call to go home, the tent city is staying.

11:00: People are still on the square being festive, singing songs, and reading poetry. Charter 97 reports that some 7000 people were on the square and that Milinkevich will be staying with those in the tent city again tonight, at least until morning.

The big thing that struck my mind is the reports that the crowd was shouting “Shame on Putin!” Most of the colored revolutions have been very nationalist in nature, this protest being no exception. They have played Belorussian songs, read Belorussian poetry, and waved the old national Belorussian flag. The main reason that the United States is encouraging democracy and human rights in countries like Belarus is because we want the people to like us, not just arbitrary strongman governments that may not last forever. Russia’s problem is that, in it’s seeking of a multi-polar world where American isn’t the only number one, it is getting way to many oddball allies. In the process, it is alienating people and pushing them toward the other side. Who knows? The future may be full of people who are anti-Russia and anti-China because of their totalitarian-supporting policies.

12:30: LiveJournalist Lipski says that there are still about 1000 people on the square. It’s sub-zero, and the authorities have cut all of the electricity. But they’re still there. Ivan Lenin translates a report from Radio Svoda saying that they all plan to stay, though they know that tonight the police can use force to break the protest up. If they do, many women who stayed will be harmed as well. For some reason the Belorussian state television team is there. Perhaps to film something happening. All I know is that the weather is absolutely evil.

By the way, if anyone is interested, I’ve uploaded some more photos of protest babes here.

STILL GOING: Charter 97 notes around 2 a.m. that there are just a bit less than 2,000 people in the camp. Warm things like mittens, scarves, fur coats, food, and tea are being distributed. Guards searching for such things in bags were able to be circumvented by stuffing the things in one’s clothes. Milinkevich noted that there are more people staying tonight than there were the day before. They have a photo archive from the night here.

Meanwhile, the 108 opposition supporters who have been arrested in the past three days have been put on trial, with the authorities closing it to the public. Many sentences have already been passed. Hopefully this will spark outrage among the protestors and they will continue their fight for justice.

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Others blogging the revolution: Br23 Blog, Blogging Belarus, Neeka’s Backlog, The Being Had Times, Andrei Khrapavitski, The Filter.

Yahoo has its ongoing photo updates here. People are also posting up photos from the scene on Flickr here.

Looking for protest babes? My archive of Belorussian protest babes is here.

Hear the music of the revolution here.