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Telegram App Helps Drive Belarus Protests

Associated Press

   MOSCOW - Every day, like clockwork, to-do lists for those protesting
   against Belarus' authoritarian leader appear in the popular Telegram
   messaging app. They lay out goals, give times and locations of rallies
   with business-like precision, and offer spirited encouragement.

   "Today will be one more important day in the fight for our freedom.
   Tectonic shifts are happening on all fronts, so it's important not to
   slow down," a message in one of Telegram's so-called channels read
   Tuesday. "Morning. Expanding the strike '¦ 11:00. Supporting the Kupala
   (theater) ... 19:00. Gathering at the Independence Square."

   The app has become an indispensable tool in coordinating the
   unprecedented mass protests that have rocked Belarus since Aug. 9, when
   election officials announced President Alexander Lukashenko had won a
   landslide victory to extend his 26-year rule in a vote widely seen as
   rigged.

   Peaceful protesters who poured into the streets of the capital, Minsk,
   and other cities were met with stun grenades, rubber bullets and
   beatings from police. The opposition candidate left for Lithuania --
   under duress, her campaign said -- and authorities shut off the
   internet, leaving Belarusians with almost no access to independent
   online news outlets or social media and protesters seemingly without a
   leader.

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