Thousands marched on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s Minsk on Sunday, with his opponents saying it was less than a month after the election.
Opposition groups called for a boycott of the march, waving red and white protest flags and chanting “Go away” and “You are a rat.”
The human rights group Spring-99 said at least 70 people had been arrested. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that several people were injured when police staged a protest outside a government-run tractor factory.
Video footage shown by local media outlet TUT.BY showed women shouting “shame” at masked members of the security forces, dragging people into custody. Troops, water cannons, armed personnel carriers were deployed in the city center in front of the march.
“This sea of people cannot be stopped by military equipment, water cannons, propaganda and arrests. Most Belarusians want a peaceful change of power and we will not tire of demanding this,” said Maria Kolesnikova, leader of the coordinating committee. Trying to arrange a conversation with 66-year-old Lukashenko about the transition of power through protests.
Opposition supporters speak to Belarusian troops during a rally in protest of the August 9 disputed election [TUT.BY via AFP]
Darag McDowell, chief analyst at global consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, said economic factors were playing a key role in the country’s performance with “fast running out of money”.
“There has been a frequent shortage of the IT sector with internet shutdowns to disrupt the protests. We have also seen many strikes in the state-owned sector. So the Belarusian economy is really on edge,” McDowell told Al Jazeera.
“People have lost their fear of Lukashenko, he has lost a lot of his rights. No matter how riotous the police are on the streets, he doesn’t keep people coming out.”
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‘Beatings and torture’
Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has rejected calls for new elections, backed by traditional ally Russia.
Unprecedented protests erupted on August 9 after Lukashenko claimed re-election with 80 percent of the vote.
Opposition rival Svetlana Tikhnovskaya said she had won the election, but Lukashenko’s security forces arrested thousands of protesters, many of whom accused police of beating and torturing her.
Belarusians have been protesting across the country for nearly a month, with more than 100,000 people flooded the streets of the capital, Minsk, over four million weekends.
Dozens of people were arrested this week, including journalists covering student protests and rallies.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that 91 protesters had been detained on Saturday, adding that it would increase security and on Sunday “take all necessary measures to suppress such actions and prevent violations of public order”.
Tikhnovskaya, Who will travel to Warsaw to meet the Polish prime minister next week, said in a video address on Saturday that the momentum of the protests could be reversed.
“Belarusians have already changed, they have awakened and it is impossible to push them back into the former psyche. Remember that we are strong as long as we are united.
Tikhanovskaya ran for office after her blogger husband was jailed and barred from running with many other prominent Lukashenko critics.
He left Belarus under pressure from the authorities and took refuge in Lithuania, an EU member state.
On Friday, Tikhnovskaya addressed a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) via video link, calling for sanctions against those responsible for alleged electoral fraud and rights violations.
Lithuania, Latvia and the Baltic states of Estonia have blacklisted Lukashenko and 29 top officials in his administration, but other members of the European Union appear reluctant to personally target Belarus’s strongman.
‘Reaction too late’
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In an interview published in the Financial Times on Sunday, the Lithuanian foreign minister called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Belarus and curb Russia’s influence or threat undermining the credibility of its foreign policy.
“Sometimes we react too late and our actions are fragmented and making no impression on society or those in power.”
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have banned Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian officials from traveling without waiting for the rest of the EU to act, signaling impatience with the West’s cautious approach.
Russia has said it will respond to any West’s efforts to “quell the situation”, and has raised the possibility of sending military support to President Vladimir Putin.
Putin is keen to unite Russia and Belarus, and Moscow is in line with the latest offers of economic and military assistance with a call for strict unification.
Lukashenko has denied full integration in the past and tried to play Moscow against the West, but now his options are limited.
On Thursday, Lukashenko hosted Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and replaced the head of the KGB security service, which some analysts say could have been done under Moscow’s pressure.
The bewildered leader said Russia and Belarus had agreed on issues they “could not agree on earlier”, and that he would meet with Putin in Moscow in the next few weeks to discuss “all IS.” Planning to create.
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