Thousands defy crackdown, march against Belarus leader
MINSK, Belarus — Tens of thousands of people flooded the heart of the Belarus capital of Minsk on Friday in a show of anger over a brutal police crackdown this week on peaceful protesters that followed a disputed election, and authorities sought to ease rising public fury by freeing at least 2,000 who were jailed after earlier demonstrations.
Factory workers marched across the city shouting “Go away!” in a call for authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to resign after 26 years of iron-fisted rule that was extended in an election Sunday denounced as rigged by protesters.
Friday’s crowds grew to more than 20,000, filling central Independence Square.
About a dozen soldiers guarding the nearby government headquarters lowered their riot shields in what the demonstrators saw as a sign of solidarity, and women rushed to embrace and kiss the guards.
As the protesters rallied, Lukashenko dismissed them as puppets manipulated from abroad.
During a meeting with top law enforcement officials, he defended the crackdown as a justified response to violence against police by some of the protesters.
The Interior Ministry said 121 police officers were injured.
He told officials, however, to avoid excessive force.
“If a person falls down and lies still, don’t beat him!” Lukashenko said.
The Belarusian leader cautioned people against turning out for protests, saying the country is facing foreign “aggression.”
“Don’t get out into the streets. You should understand that you and your children are being used as cannon fodder,” Lukashenko said, alleging that people from Poland, the Netherlands, Ukraine and some members of Russia’s opposition were fomenting the unrest.
The claim of foreign agitation was greeted with disdain by protesters.
“Nobody believes these horror stories about external forces. We are tired of constant enemies and conspiracies,” Galina Erema, 42, said.
A messaging app that has been a key means of communication for protesters announced plans for marches Sunday in Minsk and “other cities and hamlets of Belarus,” an indication that determination remains strong.
Earlier, police didn’t interfere as the protesters marched across the city, reflecting Lukashenko’s apparent attempt to assuage the opposition by stepping back from the violent police crackdowns seen across the country earlier this week.
The release by the Interior Ministry of about 2,000 of the nearly 7,000 people detained was seen as another move to defuse popular outrage. It said more would be freed.
Demonstrators have swarmed the streets ever since Sunday’s election in which officials reported that Lukashenko won 80% of the vote to win a sixth term in office.
His main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled on Tuesday to neighboring Lithuania, posted a new video in which she disputed the results of the vote and demanded that the government start a dialogue with demonstrators.
The ferocious crackdown has left hundreds injured since Sunday as police have dispersed the largely peaceful demonstrations with stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and severe beatings. At least one person has been killed.