MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The authoritarian president of Belarus made a dramatic show of defiance Sunday against the massive protests demanding his resignation, toting a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest as he strode off a helicopter that landed at his residence while demonstrators massed nearby.
In the 15th day of the largest and most determined protests ever in independent Belarus, a crowd of about 200,000 rallied against President Alexander Lukashenko in a square in Minsk, the capital. They then marched to another rally and approached the Independence Palace, the president’s working residence.
Video from the state news agency Belta showed a government helicopter landing on the grounds and Lukashenko getting off holding what appeared to be a Kalashnikov-type automatic rifle. No ammunition clip was visible in the weapon, suggesting that Lukashenko, who cultivates an aura of machismo, aimed only to make a show of aggression.
Protests started Aug. 9 after a presidential election that officials say handed the 65-year-old Lukashenko his sixth term in office with 80% voter approval. Opponents claim the results are fraudulent.
The size and duration of the protests have been unprecedented for Belarus, a former Soviet republic of 9.5 million people that Lukashenko has ruled harshly for 26 years.
On Sunday afternoon, an opposition rally overflowed Minsk’s sprawling 7-hectare (17-acre) Independence Square. There were no official figures on crowd size, but it appeared to be about 200,000 people or more.
The demonstrators then marched to another square about 2.5 kilometers (1 1.2 miles) away and approached the edges of the presidential residence grounds, where police in full riot gear stood shoulder-to-shoulder, holding large shields.
The protesters dispersed in the evening amid rain.
There were no immediate reports of arrests. Earlier this month, some 7,000 people were arrested at protests, many of them badly beaten with clubs or wounded by rubber bullets, violence that only caused public outrage to swell.
Lukashenko appears to be flailing about for a strategy to counter the anti-government demonstrations.
He has repeatedly blamed Western interference, claimed the protests were backed by the United States and accuses NATO of building up troop concentrations in Poland and Lithuania on Belarus' western border, which the alliance denies. He also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to offer security assistance to his government to quell the protests if he asked for it.
Lukashenko has consistently repressed opposition during his time in office and weariness with his hardline rule, as well as dismay over the country's deteriorating economy and Lukashenko's cavalier dismissal of the coronavirus pandemic, appear to have galvanized opponents.
“Belarus has changed. Lukashenko has been able to unify everybody, from workers to intelligentsia, in the demand for change,” said protester Slava Chirkov, who attended Sunday’s demonstration with his wife and son.
They held a sign declaring “Lukashenko, your milk has gone sour,” referencing Lukashenko’s former job as the director of a Soviet-era collective farm.
A similarly enormous crowd turned out for a protest a week ago and daily demonstrations have taken place since the vote. Several of the country's key factories have been hit with protest strikes by workers fed up with government policies. Those strikes not only threaten the already-ailing economy, but show that opposition to Lukashenko extends beyond educated white-collar circles and into his traditional blue-collar base.
“Are you going to work for a dictator? Strike — that's our answer,” Sergei Dilevsky, leader of the strike committee at the Minsk Tractor Works, one of Belarus' largest industrial enterprises, told protesters at Sunday's second rally site.
Lukashenko's main election challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, fled to Lithuania the day after the election. Several other possible challengers fled the country even before the election.
An opposition Coordination Council was created last week to develop a strategy for a transition of power, but authorities in Belarus have opened a criminal probe into its formation.
Also Sunday, more than 50,000 Lithuanians joined hands in a human chain stretching 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital of Vilnius to the Belarus border to express solidarity with the protesters.
Source: The Associated Press, Staff, August 23, 2020
Belarus opposition holds mass rally in Minsk despite ban
Opposition supporters in Belarus have held a mass rally in the capital Minsk, two weeks after a disputed election gave President Alexander Lukashenko another term in office.
Correspondents in the city said tens of thousands filled the central square despite a heavy police presence.
The protesters say Mr Lukashenko stole the election and want him to resign.
The president has vowed to crush unrest and blamed the dissent on unnamed "foreign-backed revolutionaries".
Recent protests were met with a crackdown in which at least four people were killed. Demonstrators said they had been tortured in prisons.
According to official results, Mr Lukashenko - who has ruled Belarus for 26 years - won more than 80% of the vote in the 9 August election and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya 10%.
There were no independent observers and the opposition alleges massive vote rigging.
Ms Tikhanovskaya, who was forced to flee to neighbouring Lithuania the day after the election, vowed to "stand till the end" in the protests.
What is happening in Minsk?
Tens of thousands of people - from the elderly to those with small children - poured into Independence Square on Sunday. Many were carrying the opposition's red and white flags, and chanted "freedom" and anti-government slogans.
Pro-opposition media say 100,000 people took part. State television put the crowd at 20,000.
After gathering in the square, some demonstrators moved towards the "Hero City" war memorial and the presidential palace. They were blocked by a security cordon before dispersing.
State television released a video showing Mr Lukashenko arriving at the presidential palace by helicopter, wearing a flak jacket and carrying an automatic weapon.
Similar demonstrations were held in other Belarusian cities. Meanwhile in Lithuania, thousands of people - including President Gitanas Nausėda - formed a human chain from the capital Vilnius to the Belarusian border in solidarity with those protesting in Minsk.
More human chains were planned in the Estonian capital Tallinn and in Prague in the Czech Republic.
This weekend's rally in Minsk follows the country's biggest protest in modern history last Sunday, when hundreds of thousands filled the streets. Strike action in key factories across Belarus is also keeping up the pressure on the president.
Losing fear
Analysis by Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Minsk
This was another massive demonstration carried out under the noses of Alexander Lukashenko's security forces.
Belarus's beleaguered president had instructed his interior ministry to end the "unrest" and promised to "solve the problem". But in the end no serious effort was made to stop protesters gathering.
In the back streets leading into Independence Square there were long lines of riot police and army trucks. They looked on as the swelling crowd ignored loudspeaker warnings that this was an illegal gathering and to disperse.
These demonstrations are organic and loosely organised, so in the square there is no stage or PA system. That means no place for the few opposition leaders that remain free in Belarus to make speeches.
Instead the protesters marched around chanting "Long live Belarus" and "Go Away Lukashenko" before heading off towards a war memorial. Some told me that they had been scared to come but now felt safe surrounded by so many like-minded Belarusians.
What has Lukashenko said?
The 65-year-old president insists he won the election fairly and has ruled holding another poll. On Saturday he accused Nato of "trying to topple the authorities" and install a new president in Minsk.
He said he was moving troops to the country's western borders to counter a Nato build-up in Poland and Lithuania, and vowed to "defend the territorial integrity of our country".
Nato responded by saying it posed "no threat to Belarus or any other country", and had "no military build-up in the region".
"The regime is trying to divert attention from Belarus's internal problems at any cost with totally baseless statements about imaginary external threats," Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told AFP news agency on Saturday.
Mr Lukashenko has also accused an opposition council - set up by Ms Tikhanovskaya to organise peaceful transition - of trying to seize power. Two of its members were questioned by police on Friday.
Source: BBC News, Staff, August 24, 2020
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