Universities in Belarus target protesting students and academics after country’s president cracks down on dissent

Belarusian universities have obeyed President Alexander Lukashenko’s orders to suppress political defiance by expelling protesting students and dismissing rebellious staff, following rising opposition to Mr Lukashenko after he claimed victory in an election widely believed to have been rigged.

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets and gathered in front of universities to protest the results of the controversial 9 August elections. These have been the largest and most sustained protests since Mr Lukashenko took office 26 years ago. 

University students are frequently at the forefront of these demonstrations, which escalated to a nation-wide strike last week after calls to launch a national demonstration by exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lost the elections to Mr Lukashenko.

Over 16,000 people have been detained in a violent crackdown by security forces, prompting Western countries to impose new sanctions on the Belarusian capital of Minsk. 

Mr Lukashenko demanded on 27 October that university students and academics taking part in protests be dismissed, and made threats that protesters would be left “without hands”. His regime has used university expulsion as a means to suppress political dissent among Belarus’s student population for decades.

“Knowing the regime and the way it operates, I’m quite confident we are on the brink of massive student expelling,” said Maksimas Milta, a political scientist at the European Humanities University in neighbouring Lithuania. 

Knowing the regime and the way it operates, I’m quite confident we are on the brink of massive student expelling

– Maksimas Milta

There have been reports of expulsions at institutions including the Belarusian State Medical University, the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, and Brest State Technical University.

In September, Mr Lukashenko replaced rectors at three medical universities. On 20 October, three institutions – the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, the Belarusian National Technical University and Minsk State Linguistic University (MSLU) – saw rectors fired and replaced by Mr Lukashenko. 

Marina Ragachewskya, an English literature professor at MSLU who has protested against the regime, said: “Now with the change in some of the rectors, there’s been more pressure on the management and rectors. The former president [Mr Lukashenko] demands that they should do something, and execute his orders.”

Some deans have been forced into standing down from their positions following them voicing support for the protests, reports suggest. 

On 20 October, it was reported that Nikolay Strekha, a deputy dean at Belarusian State Pedagogical University, was told to delete posts on Facebook that were sympathetic to the protests, and was pressured into leaving his post. On 29 October, Marina Lukashevich quit her position as a dean at the Belarusian State University after refusing to sign an expulsion order.

According to strike groups, dozens of factory workers who joined the strikes have been laid off, and according to Minsk-based news service TUT.BY, authorities have closed a number of cafes and restaurants for supporting the strikes.

Mr Lukashenko has attempted to tighten his grip on the country though partially closing its land borders, replacing his interior ministers and has named three new security hawks to new roles.