Anger at Lukashenko’s secret swearing in
The Belarusian president has been sworn in for a new term in office in a secret ceremony to avoid large protests.
Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, was awarded a highly dubious landslide victory at the polls on August 9, which sparked massive demonstrations against his rule.
Opposition leaders and European officials swiftly denounced Lukashenko’s inauguration at the Palace of the Independence in Minsk as illegitimate.
‘‘If the inauguration had been announced in advance, 200,000 demonstrators would have gathered outside his palace,’’ said Ales Belyatsky, head of the Viasna rights group.
The 66-year-old former collective farm worker, who has vowed to stay in power until protesters ‘‘killed’’ him, had a defiant message for the nation.
‘‘I cannot, and I have no right to, abandon Belarusians who tied their future, the future of their children to the policy of the state, who stayed true to the country and its people in such a difficult time for Belarus,’’ he said.
Images released yesterday by BelTa, the state-owned news agency, showed the Belarusian leader address several dozen officials. BelTa said the ceremony was attended by hundreds of top officials as well prominent scientists and cultural figures.
The ceremony was not televised or broadcast on the radio. Since his disputed re-election Lukashenko has faced an unprecedented wave of protests, with the country’s leading cultural figures and athletes speaking out against his rule and police brutality.
He has described the protesters as agents of the West and claimed that Western nations were out to topple him.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader in exile in Lithuania, yesterday dismissed Lukashenko’s swearing-in ceremony as an ‘‘attempt to win legitimacy’’. ‘‘The so-called inauguration is a farce: Lukashenko has simply retired,’’ she said in a video message.
‘‘It means that his orders for security services are not legitimate and should not be followed.’’
Pavel Latushko, former Belarusian ambassador to France, who recently emerged as a popular opposition figure, also condemned the secret ceremony, saying that Belarusians ‘‘will never agree with vote-rigging’’, and called for a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience.
Several
European countries including Germany have refused to recognise Lukashenko as the legitimately elected leader.
‘‘Forged elections. Forged inauguration,’’ Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania’s foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.
Minsk residents took to the streets immediately after the inauguration, waving historic white and red flags.
‘‘From today we are officially ruled by a usurper,’’ said Igor Kukharsky, a 38-year-old businessman.
‘‘No one took this seriously,’’ said Valentina Svyatskaya, 64, while student Yulia Kulakoval, 20, said: ‘‘He’s a nobody now.’’
By early evening, no riot police or other security forces had yet been deployed in response.
– Telegraph Group