Belarusian pensioners, both opponents, and supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko, held marches in Minsk on Oct. 19.
The participants in the rival demonstrations first gathered on Minsk’s Independence Square near the Red Church, according to eyewitnesses and the media.
No serious conflicts occurred between them. Law enforcement agencies did not step in, either.
A column of pensioners who are opponents of Lukashenko left Independence Square shortly thereafter and headed to the city center along Independence Avenue, carrying white-red-white flags.
The president’s supporters, in turn, held a brief rally on the square and then proceeded along the same route, carrying Belarusian state flags. They caught up with the first column of pensions near Victory Square, where they laid flowers at the Victory monument and began to disperse.
