The march of the retirees has reached Yakub Kolas square. “What was Roma murdered for?” and “Tribunal!” People are chanting.

Belarusian authorities are demanding that Poland extradites Stepan Putilo and Roman Protasevich - two Polish- based bloggers behind the popular Telegram channel Nexta. Both are Belarusian citizens and will be charged in a criminal case.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya:

"First they threw the doctors into the fire. Almost all the help they got was from common Belarusians, not the state. The regime preferred giving bonuses to the siloviki instead of giving protective equipment to the medical workers.

Then they demanded that doctors be "trustworthy". To the criminals who usurped the power, it meant not showing sympathy to the tortured people.

Then they demanded that the doctors be silent under threat of arrest.

Now they fire doctors. The country is engulfed by the coronavirus but the regime easily parts ways with the best specialists.
The doctors ran out of patience. They demand an end to violence, freedom for the political prisoners, and new elections. Or in 30 days they will quit en masse.
And when the regime will say that "the doctors are outside of politics", let's remind it that torture, falsifications, and repressions against doctors aren't politics either. And that supporting the medical community is a matter of our common future".

The office of the Prosecutor General warned the spokesman for the Belarusian Orthodox Church Sergei Lepin and bishop Yuri Kosobutsky about their public denounciation of the destruction of the memorial to Roman Bondarenko.

"The statement uses unapologetically aggressive tone created through terms and figures of speech ("desecration of the slain person's portraits", "what's the purpose of this satanic trampling of lanterns and icons", etc.) that purposefully raise tensions in the society, incite hatred towards officials, including law enforcement officers, and, as a result, animosity towards the mentioned social groups".

The EU will not give a single more euro to the Belarusian government.

From now on, all the financial assistance will go to the NGOs to support civil society.

This is what Josep Borrell, the EU Minister on Foreign Affairs, said today at a briefing concerning the results of today's conference of the EU foreign ministers.

Heiko Maas, head of the German foreign ministry, added that the EU will keep pressuring Lukashenka until he enters the dialogue with the Belarusian people. EU had already confirmed a new round of sanctions against the officials, as well as companies, businessmen, and organisations connected to the Belarusian regime.

“Roma, you are the hero,” people are chanting.

People say goodbye to Roman Bondarenko at the Northern cemetery.

During the visit to the agricultural machinery company OAO Gomselmash, Lukashenko was asked to comment on the opposition's virtually branding the Belarusian government as fascists.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “As for fascism, this label will in no way stick to me. Because I am an internationalist. You can see my policy. I've always been proud of the fact that there are no quarrels or contradictions between different nationalities in Belarus. And the country is home to about 100 nationalities. I've always been proud that religious confessions in Belarus are at peace. I've always said that everyone should find their road to the temple. It was my slogan before the election and during the election. This is why I am not a nationalist while fascism is the supreme form of nationalism. A die-hard nationalist can be a fascist. I am not one of them.”

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya made an address "On a week without Raman Bandarenka" via her official channel.

“A week has passed since the death of Raman Bandarenka. The country has been mourning all week. For a whole week, the regime has been trying to tarnish his name, either calling it a ‘common domestic crime’ or claiming that there was alcohol in Raman's blood.
When one of the doctors released data confirming that there was no alcohol, the prosecutor's office opened a case against him. The journalist who wrote about it was arrested. However, a murder case has not yet been initiated.
Raman's body was not given to the family. The Prosecutor General's Office dared to claim that none of the relatives had contacted them. The family of the murdered man was under surveillance. It is hard to believe in all this, but this is Belarus in which we will live in if we do not stand up to it.

At noon, Belarus stood in silence for a minute, but we will not be silent anymore.”

Ekaterina Andreeva, a journalist working for Belsat, has been formally charged with organising or participating in gross disruption of public order. She will remain under arrest until January 20, 2021. Ekaterina pleads not guilty and completely refuses to testify.