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Lukashenko's riot police end Belarus protests

Posted on: Friday, 24 March 2006, 05:15 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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