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Source: PA Images
THE POLICE IN THE Belarusian capital has cracked down on a women’s protest march demanding the resignation of the authoritarian president.
The agents arrested more than 200 protesters, including an elderly woman who has become a symbol of the six weeks of protest that have rocked the country.
More than 2,000 women participated in the march in Minsk.
These anti-government marches have become a regular feature of the unprecedented wave of large protests that began after the August 9 presidential elections.
Officials said President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in office with 80% support in that vote, but opponents and some poll workers say the results were rigged.
Police officers arrested about 200 protesters.
Source: TUT.by/PA
During Lukashenko’s 26 years in office, he has consistently cracked down on the opposition and the independent media.
Large demonstrations have been held in cities across the country and some Sunday protests in Minsk have drawn crowds estimated at as many as 200,000.
The human rights group Viasna said more than 200 people were arrested during Saturday’s march.
“There were so many people detained that lines formed at the prisoner transports,” Viasna member Valentin Stepanovich told The Associated Press.
Among those arrested was Nina Bahinskaya, a 73-year-old ex-geologist whose defiance has made her a popular figure in the protests.
Many of the women in Saturday’s march chanted “We are walking!” referring to when the police told Ms. Bahinskaya that she was participating in an unauthorized protest and she replied, “I’m taking a walk.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s main opponent in the elections, praised the women’s march in a video statement from Lithuania, where she took refuge after the elections.
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“They have scared and pressured women for the second month, but despite this, Belarusians continue their peaceful protest and show their incredible strength,” he said.
The protesters want the president to resign.
Source: TUT.by/AP
Several senior members of the Coordination Council that the opposition has created to push for a new election have been jailed and others have been forced to leave the country. Maxim Znak, a prominent member of the council, declared a hunger strike in prison on Friday.
Last month, thousands of protesters were detained and some showed deep bruises from police beatings. Still, that didn’t stop the protests from growing to include strikes at major factories that had previously been a source of support for the embattled Lukashenko.
In a new strategy to stop Sunday’s large protests, the Belarusian Attorney General’s office said it has tracked down parents who took their children to opposition rallies.
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