Some 50,000 people have reportedly turned out on August 23 to form an approximately 32-kilometre human chain from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to the Belarusian border to demonstrate solidarity with the Belarusian opposition contesting the August 9 presidential results in the neighbouring country.

The day of August 23 was chosen not randomly for the event: 31 years ago, on August 23, 1989, over a million people formed a human chain spanning Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to demand an end to Soviet occupation.

The Freedom Way on August 23, 2020 stretched roughly 32 km from Cathedral Square in central Vilnius to Medininkai, a village of 500 people close to the Belarusian border. The village is infamous for being the location of a heinous murder of 7 Lithuanian customs officials by OMON, the former Soviet Union’s special police unit, back in 1991.

The participants were waving three-colour national Lithuanian flags and white-red-white Belarusian flags. Belarusians are among a very few nations that have two flags competing for the right to be called a national symbol. The official one is the red and green flag with a Belarusian white ornament on the left (hoist) side. Its corresponding coat of arms consists of green and red ribbon, a map of Belarus on the globe in sun rays, wheat ears and a red star. Another pair of symbols is a white-red-white flag and a coat of arms Pahonya (“pursuit” or “chase” in Belarusian), which looks like and armed knight riding on a horse. Unlike their neighbours from Russia, Ukraine or Poland, Belarusians don’t have as strong a sense of national identity. People still argue which symbols better represent them as a nation.

The Freedom Way was followed by a concert and TV marathon in the courtyard of Medininkai Castle. A fundraiser to collect money for the BY Help organisation that has been helping injured, detained and persecuted Belarusians and their families since 2017 has also been announced.

"Freedom is not only a fundamental human right but also a nation's fundamental right. It’s also a daily commitment to defend it from any attempt on it by those who would replace freedom with darkness, oppression and fear,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at the event.

The world can no longer play the double game with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's regime and it needs to be politically and diplomatically isolated, ex-Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite emphasised in her speech prior to the event.

"This regime should be politically and diplomatically isolated in the world. And we need to impose not only serious political-diplomatic but also economic sanctions to specific representatives of the regime," she said.

The announcement by the Belarusian authorities that Lukashenko had won the presidential election on August 9, had received 80% of votes and was re-elected for a sixth term sparked protests in Belarus, which are still ongoing. They are being suppressed with force as around 7,000 people have been detained so far, with many of them reporting beatings and torture at detention facilities. Three people have already died during protests and hundreds have been injured.

As reported by bne Intellinews, on August 21, Belarus opposition’s presidential hopeful Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gave her first press conference in Lithuania and called for peaceful demonstrations to continue. Speaking of the strikes in Belarus, she said they were a legal and effective method of fighting. She added that "millions have already been donated to the support foundations."

She said she is hoping for dialogue between the Belarusian people and the government and for a new election, adding that she will return to Belarus when it is safe for her to do so. "I love Belarus and I will come back when I feel safe there," she said, answering a corresponding question.