Students and teachers across Belarus started the academic year on 1 September 2020 in a country that had been radically transformed by events over the summer. They were at the heart of the peaceful protests and started the new term with marches across the country and other manifestations of dissent, including picketing, wearing the colours of the ‘opposition’, singing protest songs and reading poems. For those participating in the peaceful protest movement, the cost has been high. On 27 October, Alyaksandr Lukashenka called for universities to dismiss them. It was an explicit instruction to academic institutions to intimidate and prevent those trying to peacefully exercise their human rights from doing so.
