BELARUS: Opposition pledges weekend protest rally will go ahead despite riot police arresting 300 demonstrators

Record ID: 214396

  • Title: BELARUS: Opposition pledges weekend protest rally will go ahead despite riot police arresting 300 demonstrators
  • Date: 25th March 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP SHOT OF FLOWER
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belarus
  • Country: Belarus
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAETEP50F1ZEHXRPQLG7G69AFM7
  • Story Text: Protesters in Belarus say they'll go-ahead with a weekend rally in opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko.
    It follows days of street demonstrations over his re-election.
    In the early hours of Friday riot police swooped on MInsk's October Square arresting 300 protesters and driving them off in trucks.
    Families gathered outside a detention centre during the day not knowing whether their loved ones were inside or not.
    One woman, in tears, said her son hadn't returned home and she feared for his safety.
    Opposition activists said 10 demonstrators had been jailed for up to 15 days as court hearings got under way.
    Opposition supporters want a re-run on the March 19 poll which handed Lukashenko five more years in power in the ex-Soviet state that he rules with an iron grip. They say thepoll was blatantly rigged.
    Demonstrators tried to gather in October Square again on Friday night undeterred by the break-up of a rally and the arrests of protesters.
    But police moved in quickly to prevent crowds from getting too large, and moved people away.
    People wearing blue scarfs, the symbol of the opposition, or holding flowers were barred from entering the area.
    "Because I am against dictatorship, against these men wearing black (policemen) who do not let me even walk down the street, we declare ourselves as free people and democratic country, but we have no freedom. We are fighting for it even with flowers," said Natalia, holding a carnation.
    Despite the arrests, opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich said Lukashenko's foes would not be deterred from holding a peaceful rally -- also unauthorised -- on Saturday as planned.
    If authorities sealed off October Square, where the rally is set for 1000 GMT, protesters would move to a different location which he refused to disclose.
    It was not immediately clear what support Milinkevich could expect for Saturday's demonstration, which will also mark the independence day of a short-lived Belarussian republic in 1918.
    Lukashenko won the election with an official tally of 83 percent to 6 percent for Milinkevich. Numbers turning out to protest the poll varied from several thousand to a few hundred.
    Dissent is normally quashed quickly in the tightly-policed ex-Soviet state.
    Friday's arrests drew condemnation from the West, but sympathy from Russia, Lukashenko's big backer.
    Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, said the EU had decided to take "restrictive measures" against those linked to the vote, including Lukashenko.
    Sanctions were likely to take effect from April 10 and involve a visa ban on Belarus officials accused of election rigging and freezing their financial assets abroad.
    EU leaders vowed to support the democratic opposition in Belarus and demanded a release of all detained protesters.
    Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said that Russia's position has not eased the problem, "We can all regret that Russia supported the results of the elections. If this wouldnt be the case, then the situation would be much easier", Jansa said, emphasizing that the sanctions taken by the EU were "quite strong". "We clearly said that we cannot accept the results of Belarus elections and we give our support to Belarus opposition, he said. " So I think it is quite strong especially if you take into account that there is also a call for restrictions, or for measures against the Belarus leadership", he said.
    The EU has imposed visa bans on other world leaders as well, including senior officials from Zimbabwe and Myanmar.
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