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Several thousand people gathered in central Minsk on Wednesday afternoon and formed human chains in the streets, at the behest of the opposition to protest through civil disobedience.
Riot police and military police responded to this with tear gas, water cannons and violent interventions where several people were beaten with blood and many were taken away in vans.
Many are still detained
Dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko surprised when he was suddenly sworn in for a new term as president of Belarus on Wednesday. He arrived at the Independence Palace in Minsk in a heavily police-guarded procession, without warning, and officers and military were taken by bus to empty streets and cordoned off to participate.
A total of 364 people were arrested throughout the country, of which 252 in the capital, according to the official report of the Ministry of the Interior. The vast majority of them are said to remain in detention. The human rights organization Vjasna also estimates the number of detainees at more than 300, in more than seven different cities in the country, and notes that some detainees were so injured that they had to be transferred to hospital rather than jail.
The result of the August presidential elections has been rejected by much of the world and has sparked persistent protests in the country. The security force has responded by arresting thousands of people and there are hundreds of testimonies of violence, torture and disappearances since the people were abducted by masked men.
“Contrary to the will of the people”
The election result was fabricated and Alexander Lukashenko is not the legitimate leader of Belarus, the EU declares. The European Parliament has previously decided to reject Lukashenko’s term from November, when his current term ends. But Wednesday’s ceremony advanced plans.
“This ‘installation’ is completely at odds with much of the will of the Belarusian people, which has been expressed in numerous peaceful and unprecedented protests since the elections, and only serves to further deepen the political crisis in Belarus,” said the labor union.
It also demands that the Belarusian authorities end the “oppression and violence against the Belarusian people” and release all those imprisoned in connection with the protests, including political prisoners.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya on Wednesday appealed to EU foreign ministers for support. This may include, first of all, directing financial support from the Lukashenko regime and from non-governmental organizations and hospitals.
Swedish mediation?
However, the sanctions prepared by the EU are delayed, as Cyprus withholds its approval on the grounds that it wants its case to be heard in a maritime dispute with Turkey.
Sweden and Finland are also opposed to imposing sanctions directly against Alexander Lukashenko, to promote mediation efforts through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be run by Sweden, say AFP sources.
The United States, Britain and Canada are jointly preparing sanctions against people in Belarus with the support of the so-called Magnitsky Act, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Reuters. Such sanctions mean, among other things, that bank assets are frozen, travel to countries is stopped, and doing business with the person in question is prohibited.
Martin Mederyd Hårdh / TT
A woman who was injured during the demonstrations in Minsk on Wednesday is being treated by other protesters. Image: AP / TT
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