Belarusian rival urges renewed protests
2,000 released from lockup as pressure builds
MINSK• Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on Friday for more protests and an election recount, piling pressure on the authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, as he faces the biggest challenge in his 26 years in power.
In a video posted on Youtube from self-imposed exile in Lithuania, Tsikhanouskaya asked supporters to demand an official investigation into allegations that Lukashenko rigged last Sunday’s presidential election.
At least two protesters were killed and thousands detained in a violent crackdown this week.
“Belarusians will never again want to live with the old authorities,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Let’s defend our choice. Don’t stay on the sidelines. Our voices need to be heard.”
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a sixth consecutive day demanding that Lukashenko step down. Protesters were joined by workers at some of the state-owned industrial plants that are the centrepiece of his Soviet-style economic model.
In a rare climbdown, the government earlier apologized for the use of force as it freed more than 2,000 protesters from detention.
Several bore heavy bruises and complained of beatings, cramped conditions and starvation rations inside the cells.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the bloc’s chief executive, called for sanctions on those “who violated democratic values or abused human rights in Belarus.”
The official election result handed Lukashenko a landslide victory with 80 per cent of the vote, compared to around 10 per cent for Tsikhanouskaya. Washington said the vote “was not free and fair.”
Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher, emerged from obscurity a few weeks ago to take her husband’s place in the election campaign after he was jailed. She has now led some of the biggest protests against Lukashenko since he came to power with the fall of the Soviet Union.
Shortly after the election, she fled to Lithuania. On Friday, she called for the international community to facilitate talks with the authorities and said she wanted to set up a council to enable a transfer of power, a proposal that was swiftly endorsed by the president of Lithuania.
In Europe, momentum was growing in favour of sanctions in emergency discussions among the 27 EU foreign ministers on Friday. An EU diplomat said the gathering decided to instruct their foreign policy unit to prepare a list of individuals to be blacklisted, marking a first step towards new sanctions.