Lukashenko’s riot police end Belarus protests

By Oleg Shchedrov

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko,
ignoring his Western critics, on Friday sent in riot police to
break up days of opposition street protests against his
re-election.

Police wearing riot helmets and carrying batons swooped in
the early hours on 200 or so demonstrators camped out in
Minsk’s October Square and drove them away in trucks to a
pre-trial detention center.

The demonstrators, led by a political opposition that plans
to hold a mass rally on Saturday, had been pressing for a
re-run of Sunday’s election which handed Lukashenko five more
years in power. The opposition says the poll was blatantly
rigged.

“The authorities…only know the language of force,” main
opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich, who has spearheaded
the peaceful resistance, told reporters, his voice breaking.

The opposition, due to hold an emergency meeting at 1000
GMT, vowed Saturday’s big show of protest would go ahead.
Milinkevich, who was not among those detained, was also
planning to hold a news conference.

Five days of protests in the square, in which numbers have
ranged from 200 to several thousand, were unusual in that
police in tightly-controlled Belarus usually snuff out dissent
quickly.

The United States, which has branded Lukashenko Europe’s
last dictator after 12 years of Soviet-style rule, said it was
disturbed by the police action.

Dozens of police surrounded the protesters in the makeshift
tent camp and told them to disperse. Protesters refused.

Minutes later, police forcibly carried about 10 of them to
trucks. Other demonstrators followed without resisting.

NO POLICE FORCE

State television made a point of quoting city police saying
no-one was hurt in the operation. An officer in command urged
his men through a loudhailer not to use excessive force.

Milinkevich’s Internet site said all underage protesters
had been released by mid-morning. Officials have not yet said
how many people were detained.

The protests had echoes of the 2004 “Orange Revolution”
that produced weeks of mass protests in neighboring Ukraine,
though the magnitude was far smaller.

Some observers said the comparatively gentle treatment of
demonstrators suggested Lukashenko may be trying to react more
sensitively given Western opinion.

Others said he may have come under pressure from Russian
President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin leader backed
Lukashenko’s win but, as current chairman of the Group of 8
rich nations, may shun any association with unsavory police
action in Belarus.

Those detained seemed likely to get jail sentences of up to
two weeks for public order offences.

Lukashenko won Sunday’s elections with an official vote
tally of 83 percent. Milinkevich came second with 6 percent.

Despite his pariah status in the West, Lukashenko is
genuinely popular among Belarussians for having ensured
relative political and economic stability.

The election result has set the United States and other
Western countries at odds with Russia. Washington, echoing the
findings of international poll monitors, has accused Lukashenko
of intimidating opponents while Moscow has congratulated him.

“We are disturbed by the break-up of demonstrations and the
detention of protestors in Belarus,” U. S. State Department
spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus said in a statement in
Washington.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country
currently holds the EU presidency, said the European Union will
today consider a draft statement, which describes Belarus as “a
sad exception” to Europe’s tradition of democracy.

“Events during the night have confirmed (our) negative
assessment,” she said, urging Belarussian authorities to
respect the freedom of assembly and release the prisoners.

The European Union is mulling restrictive measures against
Belarus like an expanded list of officials to be denied visas.