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Belarus Protests Draw Thousands as EU Calls for New Vote
Posted
August 30, 2020
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August 30, 2020
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1:12Now PlayingThousands of protesters gathered in the Belarus capital, capping a third week of demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko, who is now facing calls for fresh elections by the European Union.
Police detained more than 100 people in central Minsk amid heavy security at Sunday’s unauthorized rally, Deutsche Welle and the DPA newswire reported.
The protests took place as the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called for new elections, to be overseen by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The EU has rejected Lukashenko’s claim of a landslide victory in the Aug. 9 ballot and has criticized the subsequent police crackdown. The 27-nation bloc agreed to impose sanctions on Belarusian officials suspected of aiding vote fraud and participating in the violence.
“In the meantime, we can’t just express our worries,” Borrell wrote in an opinion piece published by Journal du Dimanche. “We need to sanction those who are responsible if the EU wants to be coherent.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko’s closest ally, has said the election outcome was legitimate and has offered to send the police to the former Soviet republic. Putin also said OSCE observers had declined an invitation to monitor the election. In a phone call Sunday between the two leaders, Putin invited Lukashenko to meet in the coming weeks and also wished him a happy 66th birthday, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
The government’s crackdown has spread to banning foreign journalists from covering the demonstrations, with Belarusian authorities withdrawing the accreditation of more than a dozen reporters working for media outlets including AFP, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
“This conflict does not pit Europe against Russia, but Belarus against its leaders,” Borrell wrote. “Protesters who are denying election results don’t wave the EU flag, but the country’s former flag.”
The EU has been walking a fine line in its approach to the contested election, not wanting to exacerbate the situation or give Putin an excuse to step up his involvement.
The EU representative’s careful stance echoed comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Friday said a Russian intervention in Belarus would be “the worst” outcome.
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