You’ll have to kill me, Belarus leader tells protesters
Belarusian president offers constitutional referendum after initially refusing new election ‘until you kill me’
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, the Belarusian president, yesterday backtracked on a vow not to hold another election “until you kill me” after he was booed by workers over a disputed vote.
After a 200,000-strong rally in Minsk on Sunday, thousands marched to the MZKT tractor factory to confront Mr Lukashenko, interrupting a speech with chants of “Leave” and “Go Away”.
Having said “there won’t be any other election until you kill me”, he suggested he might relinquish power after a referendum when confronted.
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, the president of Belarus, yesterday said there will not be another election “until you kill me” then appeared to backtrack after Minsk factory workers booed him.
In a demonstration of his increasingly tenuous grip on power, workers at the state-run MZKT tractor factory in the capital interrupted a speech by the longtime ruler with chants of “Leave” and “Go away”.
Blue-collar support has propped up the president’s 26-year reign, but it seemed to be dwindling yesterday as strikes were held across Belarus, with blast furnaces switched off and state television broadcasting rooms empty.
On Sunday night, around 200,000 people gathered in the centre of Minsk in the country’s largest ever political rally, demanding Mr Lukashenko step down a week after he was re-elected in a widely disputed poll.
During his visit to the MZKT factory yesterday morning, he initially struck a defiant note. “We held an election. There won’t be any other election until you kill me. You will never see me do anything under pressure.”
But after he was loudly heckled, a visibly angry Mr Lukashenko walked offstage. Confronted by an employee on his way out of the factory, the 65-year-old former collective farm boss suggested for the first time he could hand over power if a referendum was held. “We need to adopt a new constitution,” he said. “You need to adopt it at a referendum. Then, if you want, hold new presidential and parliamentary elections under the new constitution.” He was then flown from the factory grounds by helicopter
Several thousand workers dressed in overalls of Minsk’s largest factories, including the showcase Minsk Tractor Works, marched to the gates of the MZKT after they had downed tools.
“We came here to tell him that he’s lost the election, and needs to go away,” 62-year old Mikhail Marinich from the Minsk Electrotechnical Plant, who was holding a megaphone, told The Telegraph. “Our president is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,” he added, referring to the jailed blogger’s wife who ran against the president, and was forced to leave Belarus after the election.
In a video address earlier yesterday, she said that she was willing to take on the role of the “national leader” and hold a new election. She urged law enforcement officers to side with the protesters, assuring them that Belarusians would be ready to forgive the extraordinarily savage crackdown that riot police meted out on protesters last week.
As Mr Lukashenko’s helicopter left the MZKT factory, Maria Kolesnikova, who canvassed alongside Mrs Tsikhanouskaya and is a rare Belarusian opposition figure not in jail or exile, addressed the workers outside. “The economy rests on your shoulders. We’re proud of you,” she said, urging the crowd of burly men to form committees to coordinate strikes.
Dozens of factories and plants all over Belarus last week staged walkouts, and threatened a complete stoppage unless a new election was called.
The Belarusian Metal Works said yesterday it has shut down its blast furnaces, while Belaruskaliy temporarily closed its potassium mines.
Crowds filled the streets of Mink yesterday evening as a popular protest group called on opposition supporters to rally outside the infamous jail in Okrestina Street, where thousands of people were detained and many severely beaten in last week’s crackdown.
Several television stations went on strike as well. Hundreds of staff at the state-run ANT TV channel gathered outside its headquarters yesterday, some of them carrying posters reading “We stand for the truth”. Local media quoted an ANT employee saying that the protesters negotiated with the channel’s director, and would now be covering protest rallies and stories of torture in Belarusian jails.
The UK has rejected the election results. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said: “The world has watched with horror at the violence used by Belarusian authorities to suppress peaceful protests that followed this fraudulent election.” The EU is preparing sanctions in response to the crackdown.
Social media images showed dozens of unmarked Russian National Guard vehicles travelling from Russia to Belarus on Sunday after Vladimir Putin said he was prepared to offer Mr Lukashenko any “necessary assistance”.