Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko Visits Military Fire Program at Grodno, Belarus 22 August 2020. Andrei Stasevich / BelTA / Handout via REUTERS
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday he would close factories that had seen workers’ protests, the Russian news agency RIA reported, its latest attempt to combat a wave of opposition rallies since disputed elections this month.
Lukashenko also suggested that he dismiss the workers concerned.
“If a factory does not work, let’s put a lock on the gate from Monday, then let’s stop it,” RIA quoted Lukashenko as saying in the city of Grodno near the border with Poland. “People will calm down and we will decide who should invite next (to work).”
In the biggest challenge for Lukashenko’s 26 years in power, people took to the streets in many Belarusian cities, including in the capital Minsk, for almost two weeks, protesting against the result of an election on August 9 that they say was rigged around the presidential election.
Some workers at a number of state-owned factories also took part in protests.
Mr Lukashenko has denied any wrongdoing in the vote.
His main opponent in the elections, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has fled to neighboring Lithuania. Without naming one, Lukashenko said on Saturday that arrangements of the national broad-based assemblies “sit abroad in neighboring countries” and enjoy political support from the leaders of those countries.
In an interview with Reuters on Saturday, Tsikhanouskaya said she sees herself as a symbol of change whose role is to deliver new elections, as Lukashenko will sooner or later have to stop.
Two prominent members of a newly formed opposition council in Belarus were questioned Friday in a criminal case over what Lukashenko calls an attempt to gain power.
Report by Andrey Kuzmin; Additional report by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Written by Katya Golubkova; Edited by Frances Kerry
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