Elena S.: Riot squads started fighting their own people with plastic armor, knuckle-dusters and smoke bombs. Afterwards I was lying for three days and couldn‘t get up. My back was pitch black because of the beatings, I had bruises everywhere, on the shoulders and on my head. After the third day with compresses, my eyesight got weak. Then I was hospitalized twice, had an infarct.
Tanja T., 18 years: I was the first who ran up to Nikita, when they grabbed him. Then suddenly one of them approached me and hit me several times on the head, pushed me on the tarmac and started to kick me with his legs...
My head hurts, my stomach also, because they punched me really hard. Now my stomach burns strongly, I am feeling a bit dizzy. My back hurts, and so do my shoulders and kidneys. It hurts to lie on my back.
Maja A., 21 years: The riot policeman started beating me. I stumbled, but he continued to hit me with his truncheon. I have no idea why he beat me, as I didn‘t offer any resistance. Then he ordered me to stand up and walk. But there was no way I could get up - the bone in my leg was cracked.
Olga K., 30 years: At one o‘clock in the morning police rang at the doorbell. They dragged me out into the corridor, barefooted and in the clothes I was in, and pushed me into their car. The night I spent in two police stations, almost naked, my blouse torn apart. I got black eyes, and I can hardly use my right hand.
Ekaterina P., 30 years (pregnant): They were beating a girl. I asked them: Boys, what are doing?! Then they arrested me as well. And also my husband. I wanted to cry, not because of that they did, but because of hopelessness. I am having a really hard time now, I don‘t want to give any further comments or talk to anyone.
Soon after her arrest Ekaterina P. lost her unborn child.
Aleksandra J., 45 years: I was bowing forward to read the protocol when police major Falej I.V. hit me with his fist on my head. Blood spilled out of my mouth. Then he punched me in the area of my breast, grabbed me at my clothes and pulled me along the floor.
We started our new national campaign „Beware, police!“ because: During 2006-2011 women who are actively involved in Belarusian politics were subjected to various types of violence executed by the authorities enforcers. The violence was especially high during Presidential election campaigns (early 2006, late 2010). However, common are cases of violence against women in time periods other than elections. The most popular types of violence are unsubstantiated detentions and arrests, and huge fines. Also present are politically motivated dismissals from job, school, and university. Another very common type of political repressions against women is exercising pressure on their relatives and threats in relation to the children. Unfortunately, there are also methods of utmost barbarity, like driving to suicide and depriving medical assistance. www.nash-dom.info