Belarus leader remains defiant as strikes grow

More workers in Belarus joined a widening strike Tuesday to press for the resignation of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has extended his 26-year rule in an election that the opposition says was rigged.

Lukashenko has refused to step down following a police crackdown on peaceful protesters in the days after the Aug. 9 vote. In a move intended to secure the loyalty of law-enforcement agencies amid the demonstrations and strikes, he signed a decree honoring over 300 police officers.

The opposition denounced the awards as a national insult following the suppression of protests with rubber bullets, stun grenades and clubs. Nearly 7,000 people were detained, hundreds were injured and at least two people died.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, insisted the awards weren’t linked to the crackdown that has galvanized public anger and drawn international criticism. In a tacit recognition of a split in the ranks, the ministry’s spokeswoman said some officers had resigned under pressure and threats from the opposition. She didn’t say how many quit.

Lukashenko’s actions prompted thousands to walk off the job.

The prospect of a nationwide shutdown was an unprecedented challenge to Lukashenko, who has relied on blue-collar workers as his base of support. During Monday’s visit to a factory in Minsk he was heckled and jeered by workers shouting “Go away!”

“The authorities should understand that they are losing control,” Yuri Zakharov, the head of an independent miners’ union, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Only Lukashenko’s resignation and punishment of those in charge of rigging and beatings can calm us down. The strike will continue and grow until he steps down.”

The labor action that began Monday quickly grew to several major industrial plants, including a factory that accounts for a fifth of the world’s potash fertilizer output.

Some workers at statecontrolled television and the troupe of the nation’s most prominent theater also joined the protests.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered in front of the Janka Kupala National Theater in Minsk to support members of its troupe who quit en masse after its director, Pavel Latushko, was fired for siding with protesters. They heckled and jeered the culture minister who visited the theater and then threw a stack of resignation letters at his feet.