Thousands stage proceedings in Belarus over EU sanctions

MINSK (Reuters) – Protesters formed human chains and marched through the streets of Belarus on Wednesday in anger after a collapse by strong President Alexander Lukashenko who urged the European Union to consider new sanctions against Minsk.

Security forces have clashed with Protestants for three consecutive nights after Lukashenko claimed victory over the removal in a vote on Sunday that his opponents say was rigged. Police have arrested about 6,000 people.

Lukashenko has sought better relations with the West amid tight ties with Russia’s traditional ally. Brussels will lift sanctions in 2016, implemented over Lukashenko’s human rights record, but will consider new measures this week.

Lithuania, Poland and Latvia jointly offered to mediate between Lukashenko and the Protestants, and threatened sanctions at European as well as national level if the offer was rejected.

A former Soviet collective farm manager, the 65-year-old Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for more than a quarter of a century, but is facing growing anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a slow economy and human rights.

Women dressed in white formed a human chain outside a covered food market in the capital Minsk, holding flowers in the air and singing slogans, while a crowd also gathered outside a prison where Protestants were being held.

“I can not leave my children at night, but I can come during the day and say my piece,” said Minsk resident Yelena. ‘They stole not only my voice but 26 years of my life. Yes, I think so, and this regime must go away. ”

CLASHES

The Belarusian Interior Ministry said 51 protesters and 14 policemen were injured in clashes Tuesday night.

In Brest, a city in southwestern Belarus on the Polish border, police fired live rounds after some Protestants said they were armed with metal beams, ignoring warning shots in the air, the ministry said. One person was injured.

Lukashenko accused the Protestants of being in cahoots with foreign supporters from Russia and elsewhere to overthrow his government, and compared them to criminal ties.

“The core of all these so-called Protestants today consists of people with a criminal history and the unemployed,” he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.

Belarussian authorities have previously linked their husband, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to a plot by suspected Russian mercenaries to destabilize the country ahead of the elections. She denied the allegations in an interview with Reuters.

In Tuesday night’s clashes, security guards beat some of the protesters, sometimes pulling people out of cars before attacking.

Human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the detention of 6,000 people, “including bystanders, such as minors, suggesting a trend of massive arrests in clear violation of international human rights standards”.

Some of the detainees were charged with felony criminal mischief for plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush.

State media also sent out images of a delivery van in Minsk with Russian license plates saying it was full of ammunition and tents.

Detected by Reuters, Valdemar Grubov, the owner of the van, said he was a film producer and that the car contained only its own personal effects.

He said he could not retrieve the delivery bus due to COVID-19 restrictions and was not involved in any proven foreign plot.

Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher who voted for Lukashenko, fled to neighboring Lithuania to raise her children there. They urge their countrymen not to oppose the police and endanger their lives.

But the protests continued Wednesday night as thousands took to the streets of the capital.

‘We’re scared, but what else can we do? We do not become aggressive. We are women standing here who also have a voice, “said Minsk resident Zhenya.” We are afraid of being arrested, but we want to be heard. ”