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Images filmed by local media show buses transporting security forces and metal barriers to the city center.
A dozen metro stations in central Minsk have been closed to prevent protesters from gathering. Mobile internet is also restricted.
Earlier this month, the Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, set Lukashenko a two-week deadline for his resignation, an end to the violence and the release of political prisoners. Otherwise, he warned, there will be a general strike.
During a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod in Copenhagen last Friday, he called for new elections “as soon as possible”. And then he declared in a separate statement that the date of the new election must be announced before the end of the year.
True, he acknowledged that it is unclear how many Belarusians will answer the call to join the general strike on Monday, as many people are intimidated by the authorities and fear losing their jobs in state-owned companies.
“I know that a lot of people are afraid of losing their jobs,” he told AFP. – We do not organize strikes ourselves. It is up to people to decide if they are ready or not. “
The European Union (EU) and Western countries have imposed sanctions on Lukashenko’s allies for falsifying election results and police violence against protesters.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Lukashenko on Saturday to call for the release of a well-known US political strategist who was arrested in Belarus before the elections.
Vitaly Škliarov, a member of the Scientific Society of Harvard University, has advised candidates for the presidency of the United States, Russia and Ukraine. He was placed under house arrest earlier this week.
The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to the anti-Lukashenko movement on Thursday.
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