Lukashenko jeered as thousands of workers in Belarus down tools
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Minsk — Workers across Belarus went on strike and joined mass protests against long-time ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who was met with jeers and calls to resign when he visited a factory in the capital, Minsk, on Monday.
Lukashenko insisted he would not step down and instead proposed changes to the constitution, a theme he has raised repeatedly in the past without making progress.
“We need to adopt a new constitution,” he said, which must be approved by a referendum. “According to the new constitution, hold, if you want, elections for parliament, president and local authorities,” he added during the visit to the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant factory.
With Belarus roiled by huge protests since the disputed August 9 presidential election, it is unlikely Lukashenko retains sufficient political credibility or popular support to push through constitutional reforms now. Hours earlier, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said in a new video address that she is ready to “act in this period as national leader” in place of Lukashenko until new elections can be held.
As Tikhanovskaya spoke from exile in Lithuania, thousands of employees in major Belarusian state-run factories walked out in support of opposition calls for a general strike. That came a day after hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Minsk and other Belarusian cities to call for Lukashenko to resign.
“We held elections,” Lukashenko told workers at the factory, according to the Tut.by news website. “Until you kill me, there won’t be another election.”
He dismissed the strikers as a small minority, state TV reported. As he spoke, crowds of people, including workers from other factories, gathered outside the gates of the plant, chanting for his resignation.
Tikhanovskaya’s campaign ally, Maria Kalesnikava, urged striking workers to nominate representatives to a national co-ordination council being formed by the opposition movement.
Some employees of the state TV and radio holding joined the strike on Monday, calling for the election result to be annulled and demanding an end to censorship, Tut.by reported.
The protests, which started with Lukashenko’s claim of a landslide victory with 80% of the vote, have spiralled into the largest ever seen in Belarus, fuelled by anger at the severity of the police violence in response, including accusations of torture and the deaths of at least two people. Security forces have largely stood aside since Friday, however.
“People have overcome fear — it means we have a ...
Lukashenko insisted he would not step down and instead proposed changes to the constitution, a theme he has raised repeatedly in the past without making progress.
“We need to adopt a new constitution,” he said, which must be approved by a referendum. “According to the new constitution, hold, if you want, elections for parliament, president and local authorities,” he added during the visit to the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant factory.
With Belarus roiled by huge protests since the disputed August 9 presidential election, it is unlikely Lukashenko retains sufficient political credibility or popular support to push through constitutional reforms now. Hours earlier, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said in a new video address that she is ready to “act in this period as national leader” in place of Lukashenko until new elections can be held.
As Tikhanovskaya spoke from exile in Lithuania, thousands of employees in major Belarusian state-run factories walked out in support of opposition calls for a general strike. That came a day after hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Minsk and other Belarusian cities to call for Lukashenko to resign.
“We held elections,” Lukashenko told workers at the factory, according to the Tut.by news website. “Until you kill me, there won’t be another election.”
He dismissed the strikers as a small minority, state TV reported. As he spoke, crowds of people, including workers from other factories, gathered outside the gates of the plant, chanting for his resignation.
Tikhanovskaya’s campaign ally, Maria Kalesnikava, urged striking workers to nominate representatives to a national co-ordination council being formed by the opposition movement.
Some employees of the state TV and radio holding joined the strike on Monday, calling for the election result to be annulled and demanding an end to censorship, Tut.by reported.
The protests, which started with Lukashenko’s claim of a landslide victory with 80% of the vote, have spiralled into the largest ever seen in Belarus, fuelled by anger at the severity of the police violence in response, including accusations of torture and the deaths of at least two people. Security forces have largely stood aside since Friday, however.
“People have overcome fear — it means we have a ...
