Outrage swells on Belarus streets against autocrat Lukashenko

Thousands of people swarmed the streets of Belarus’ capital and other cities Thursday to keep up their protests of election results that extended the 26-year rule of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and a subsequent police crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.

In several areas of Minsk, hundreds of women formed long “lines of solidarity.” Many of them were dressed in white and carried flowers and portraits of loved ones who have been detained during protests that began shortly after Sunday’s vote that they said was rigged.

The human chains grew quickly, and by early afternoon filled the main central squares and avenues. Motorists honked in support.

In Minsk and other cities, hundreds of workers at industrial plants also rallied against the police violence, raising the prospect of massive strikes in a new challenge to the government.

Nearly 7,000 people have been detained and hundreds injured in a harsh clampdown by police on demonstrators protesting the official results that said Lukashenko won 80% of the vote and his top opposition challenger got only 10 percent. Police have broken up protests with stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and severe beatings.

“Belarusians have seen the villainous face of this government. I argued with my husband and voted for Lukashenko. And this is what I got in the end — I can’t find my relatives in prisons,” said Valentina Chailytko, 49, whose husband and son were detained in protests Sunday and has been unable to get any information on their whereabouts.

“I wonder how Lukashenko could keep ruling,” she added.

One protester died Monday in Minsk, and hundreds of others were injured across the country. The authorities confirmed that a detainee also died in the southeastern city of Gomel, but the circumstances of his death weren’t immediately clear.

The brutality and scope of the police crackdown was remarkable even for Lukashenko’s iron-fisted rule. The 65-year-old former state farm director has been in power since 1994 and was nicknamed “Europe’s last dictator” by the West for his suppression of dissent.

The Interior Ministry reported 700 new detentions late Wednesday and overnight, bring the total number of detainees to 6,700 since Sunday. Belarus’ Investigative Committee launched a criminal probe into the organization of mass rioting — a charge that could carry prison terms of up to 15 years for those found guilty.

The ministry said 103 police officers have been injured since Sunday and 28 of them were hospitalized. In Minsk and Baranovichi, unidentified suspects ran over traffic police with their vehicles on Wednesday before being detained.

The brutal suppression of protests drew harsh criticism in the West.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27-nation bloc would review its relations with Belarus and consider “measures against those responsible for the observed violence, unjustified arrests and falsification of election results.”-AP