Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko faces growing opposition and new EU sanctions
- Demonstrators dance and sing in street, hugging and kissing troops and putting flowers in anti-riot shields
- Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya calls for further protests over weekend
The opposition in Belarus on Saturday kept up the pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko with a fresh demonstration in Minsk, as the strongman reached out to Russia in an apparent plea for help.
Some 5,000 opposition supporters gathered near a metro station in the capital where a demonstrator died during this week’s police crackdown on protests against Lukashenko’s claim to have won re-election last Sunday.
With the opposition gaining momentum after days of demonstrations, Lukashenko’s main election challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had called on supporters to rally again over the weekend.
Demonstrators laid flowers at the site where Alexander Taraikovsky, 34, died on Monday, with many chanting “Leave!” and some holding up pictures of protesters with severe bruises, after accounts emerged of detained demonstrators being beaten and tortured.
Facing the biggest challenge to his rule since taking power in 1994, Lukashenko made an unusual public plea to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The aggression against Belarus is developing. We need to contact Putin, the president of Russia, so that I can talk with him now. Because this is already a threat not only to Belarus,” Lukashenko told government officials in a televised meeting.