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“The National Bank did not want to join the popular strike. We have forced them to change their mind,” said Kiber Partizany, the hacking team that claimed responsibility for the attack, on the correspondence platform.
More than two hours after the midday attack, the National Bank announced that the operation of its website had been restored. The bank did not comment on the reasons for the site’s malfunction.
“The website has been updated for about 15 hours. Specialists are explaining the cause of the incident,” the bank said, citing the Interfax news agency.
In early October, the programmers of Kiber Partizany announced their intention to launch cyber attacks against Belarusian banks.
Reports of attacks against state institutions such as the Office of the President, the Ministry of the Interior and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry first appeared in early September.
Early Monday, Telegram reported that a number of workers from large state-owned companies had joined the strike organized by the opposition.
However, Aliaksandra Isajeva, spokesperson for the Belarusian government, assured Facebook that all companies in the real economy in Belarus have been operating normally since Monday morning.
For the third consecutive month, there have been massive protests in Belarus over the presidential elections on August 9, announced by Aliaksandr Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994. The opposition and western democracies consider these elections to be rigged.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouskaya earlier this month called on Lukashenko to resign on Sunday, end violence against protesters and release political prisoners, warning that otherwise a general strike would be declared in the country.
S. Cichanouskaya: A general strike has started in Belarus
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Cichanouskaya said Monday that her supporters would declare a national strike after the deadline for the resignation of authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko.
The streets of the capital, Minsk, were half empty on Monday morning, although all major stores and pharmacies were open, an AFP reporter reported.
Cichanouskaya called on Lukashenko to step down on Sunday, end the violence against protesters and release political prisoners, and warned that a general strike would be declared in the country.
The 66-year-old autocrat, accused by the opposition of rigging the August presidential election, ignored the ultimatum and the militia cracked down on opposition protesters on Sunday.
“Today a popular strike begins,” Cichanouskaya told Telegram.
“Workers of factories and state companies, workers in the transport sector and miners, teachers and students have been on strike since this morning,” he added.
Cichanouskaya also called on representatives of private companies, clergy and athletes to join the campaign.
The 38-year-old opposition figure, who left for Lithuania and is considered the winner of the August 9 vote, did not specify how many people were taking part in the strike.
He later added that the ongoing national strike was “very active.”
“The national strike started today, it started very actively,” Cichanouskaya said in an interview with YouTube’s Strana dlia žizni (Country of Life).
According to her, Belarusian doctors, the Hi-Tech Park and students, as well as private companies, contributed to the strike.
“This is an incredible level of solidarity,” said the opposition leader.
Ms. Cichanouskaya noted that solidarity campaigns with Belarusians were also taking place in other countries, as well as fundraising initiatives.
“People transfer their daily wage to strike funds. According to my data, they have already collected more than 7 million. Dollars,” said S. Cichanouskaja.
According to her, Monday’s strikes are “just the beginning” and “will continue.”
In Belarus, independent media activities are hampered, so it has not yet been possible to assess the scope of collective action.
Aliaksandr Yarashuk, director of the Belarusian Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions, said he knew that certain unions and individual workers were ready to strike.
“However, it is difficult to predict how many people will join, given the enormous pressure from the government,” Jarašuk told AFP.
On Monday morning, Belarusian media and channels on the Telegram platform began announcing staff meetings and possible strikes at a chain of large national companies, including Grodno Azot, Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT), Tractor Plant Minsk (MTZ), Minsk Power Plant.
They are also joined by private companies. There are reports on the doors of some shops and catering establishments that Monday will be closed for technical reasons, inventory or simply declared as a day off.
In addition, there have been reports of “sit-ins” in some higher education institutions, some of which took to the streets of Minsk in small columns.
On the streets of Minsk, people also form “solidarity chains”.
At that time, the government press service announced that all Belarusian industrial companies were operating normally on Monday morning. The Ministry of Education ensures that the educational process in the country is also normal.
Belarus has been plagued with unprecedented protests for the third month in a row, following the official announcement of Lukashenko’s victory over Cichanouskaya, a political rookie who decided to run for office when her husband Siarhei Cichanouski, who was to challenge the longtime president , he was imprisoned.
The protest movement has been holding large-scale demonstrations since September 11, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets every weekend.
More than 500 people were detained during protests in Minsk and other cities on Sunday, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
At the time, the Viasna police center reported that more than 100 people had already been detained in Belarus on Monday. The Minsk militia confirmed that people had been detained, but did not say how many.
In an attempt by the authorities to quell the post-election riots, several people died, thousands more were arrested and horrific stories of detainees denounced violence in prisons.
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