Independent observers have criticized the country’s election on August 9 for not being free or honest.
Tikhanovskaya’s intervention came as many of the international community pushed for Lukashenko, and expressed solidarity with the activists and stepped up pressure on the country’s longtime leader to give in to calls for a different vote. And at home, the leader lost the support of state governors – who fired shots from empty studios after staff marched in protest.
But the president, who has been in power for 26 years, has bitter opposition to the growing anger, even as it threatens to sink his regime, and told angry workers on Monday that “there will be no other elections. “
In a video message filmed for a blank white wall in Lithuania, Tikhanovskaya said: “I am ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader to calm the country and return to normal rhythm.”
The opposition candidate, who fled to Belarus after Lukashenko demanded victory, said she would hold a fresh vote and offer support for the swell demonstrations and industrial action across the country.
She also called on the country’s security forces to take sides and turn against the president, promising to “accept” repentant lawmakers – and called on Lukashenko to release political prisoners held in White prisons. Russia.
During a factory visit on Monday, Lukashenko doubled down on his cumbersome response and refused to afford it again. “We have already held elections, there will be no other elections,” he told MZKT plant staff, according to state news agency Belta. “You would never expect me to do anything under pressure.”
But videos published and broadcast on Belarusian media made workers sing: “Leave, leave, leave!” during his address – another sign that the strongman’s traditional support base has shrunk.
Further industrial action is planned on Monday after many reports of walks in recent days.
Lukashenko told the crowd of angry factory workers: “Even if you shoot me tomorrow, there are already other people who will be working.”
The president said he would be willing to share power and change the constitution, but would not do so under pressure from “the streets”, in a reference to the mass protests.
“A new constitution is needed,” he added. “Two options were offered to me. I refused them because they are not very different from the current ones. Work is underway on the third version. Come, sit down and work on the constitution and I will give you the powers transferred according to the constitution. But not under pressure from the streets! ”
“Yea, I am not a saint. You know my wisdom. You know that if there were no toughness, there would be no land. You know for sure that I will not insult your children and I will not give up the land to anyone. This is it most important thing, “said Lukashenko.
TV staff run out
When Lukashenko shook hands to regain control, Belarus voted on TV networks Monday morning to view photos of empty offices and re-run old programming.
Employees of the country’s state TV channels put on a walkout in solidarity with Protestants and against media censorship, with some participating in protests outside the national TV and radio broadcasting service Belteleradio, singing “Truth! Truth! Truth” “and dare posters demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.
State media in Belarus has long served as one of the main propaganda tools to help Lukashenko’s 26-year-old grip on power, but that hold turned out to be shattered on Monday.
The Belarus 1 network showed views of empty anchor benches, while another state channel, ONT, broadcast a short segment of factory workers singing “Leave!” to Lukashenko during his Minsk factory visit. Dozens of Protestants and staff gathered at his entrance as well.
Ekaterina Vodonosova, an anchor who once hosted a cultural program on BT channel, part of Belteleradio, told CNN that she resigned to protest what she says was the unfair coverage on state media. Vodonosova also said many of her friends are currently in custody or have been beaten and tortured in the facilities.
“I was just ashamed to think I had to get on the air and get in a car with BT brand, knowing that this company did this,” Vodonosova told CNN.
In previous days, about a dozen leading state media journalists have been fired, including the head of the ONT presidency, Dmitry Semchenko. Some did not make the reasons public, while others cited media censorship as their motive.
Europe condemns Lukashenko, while Putin mulls options
Meanwhile, foreign governments have demanded further control over the longtime leader, joined calls to take a new voice and condemn apparent human rights violations in the aftermath of the elections.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday that the UK “did not accept the results” of the August 9 vote, calling it “unfair” and criticizing the “outrageous repression that followed”.
“The world has watched with horror the violence used by the Belarusian authorities to suppress the peaceful protests that followed these fraudulent presidential elections,” Raab said.
EU leaders will meet via video conference on Wednesday to discuss the situation, European Council President Charles Michel said on Monday. “The people of Belarus have the right to decide on their future and to choose their leader freely,” Michel said in a tweet. “Violence against Protestants is unacceptable and cannot be allowed.”
Meanwhile, German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Bild on Monday that Lukashenko is a “bad dictator”, adding: “I am firmly convinced that this president has no more legitimacy, otherwise he would not act with such incredible, so brutal, violent. “
Amid intensifying public outrage, Lukashenko has reached out to Vladimir Putin – after two phone calls over the weekend with the Russian president, who was mulling his options in a neighboring state that is still under Russian influence .
But the Kremlin has so far been non-committal in its response. Belarus is an important buffer nation between Russia and the NATO member states of Central Europe.
Although there was no official count, CNN crews in the Belarusian capital Minsk were rumored to have attended about 50,000 people on Sunday afternoon in the opposition protest, making it one of the largest demonstrations in the country in recent memory.
Lukashenko gave a speech to a small group of government investigators a few blocks away, in which he claimed that Belarus was threatened by foreign interference.
“There is a build-up of military power on the western borders of the country. Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine order us to hold new elections. If we listen to them, we will perish,” he said.
A NATO spokeswoman, who includes Lithuania and Poland among her member states, told CNN in a statement that there was no NATO structure in the region.
Mary Ilyushina reported from Belarus, and Rob Picheta wrote from London. CNco’s Vasco Cotovio, Caro Kriel, Katherina Krebs and Rory Sullivan contributed to this report.
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