This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/12/belarus-protesters-and-police-clash-for-third-night-as-eu-threatens-sanctions

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Belarus protesters and police clash for third night as EU threatens sanctions Belarus protests: more than 6,000 arrested, says interior ministry
(about 2 hours later)
Security forces target media and beat demonstrators amid anger at vote-rigging and apparent forced exile of opposition candidate Opposition leaders jailed or driven out of country amid crackdown on protests over election results
Protesters have clashed with riot police for the third night running in cities across Belarus as the European Union threatened to reimpose sanctions over suspected vote-rigging and a violent crackdown on demonstrators. Authorities in Belarus say they have arrested more than 6,000 people during three nights of violently suppressed demonstrations against vote-rigging in Sunday’s disputed presidential election, as more footage and accounts emerged of police beating and violently detaining protesters.
After Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main challenger to the long-time president said she had fled the country, security forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of protesters in the capital, Minsk. Opposition leaders have been jailed and driven out of the country in a massive crackdown following the election, which the election commission said was won in a landslide by President Alexander Lukashenko.
The heavy police presence failed to deter the protesters, who have taken to the streets accusing Alexander Lukashenko of fixing the outcome of Sunday’s election. Among those to have fled is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opposition candidate, who left for Lithuania after an apparent threat to her children.
Witnesses reported seeing security forces detaining dozens of people and beating protesters in the street. At a detention centre on the outskirts of the capital, Minsk, desperate families have gathered each morning begging police for information on relatives who have gone missing at the protests.
In footage shared on social media, security forces were seen apparently smashing car windows and dragging people out of vehicles to attack them. In a rally in central Minsk on Wednesday, hundreds of women wearing white and holding flowers formed a human chain to protest against police brutality and mass arrests.
Agence France-Presse reporters saw riot police target press photographers, pulling out memory cards from their cameras and breaking lenses. A photographer for Associated Press corroborated the claims. The Belarus Free Theatre, an underground theatre group critical of the government, reported that two of its members had been arrested and said they were being held in desperate conditions.
Car horns blared in solidarity with the opposition, and people marched, clapped and shouted “go away”. Protesters said Tikhanovskaya’s departure would not stop their movement. “Our goal is to overthrow the Lukashenko regime,” Yakov, a 51-year-old engineer, told AFP in Minsk. “Our managing directors #SvetlanaSugako and #NadezhdaBrodskaya were jailed for 10 and 13 days respectively. During their court hearings we were told that a single cell (~3x4m) now contains 36 people in female bloc and 50 in male,” the group tweeted.
Tikhanovskaya, the wife of a jailed blogger who won mass support in her bid against Lukashenko, appeared in a video on Tuesday morning to say she had left the country for neighbouring Lithuania for the sake her children’s safety. Dozens of journalists from Russia have been arrested, many from Russian news agencies, and news crews have been attacked by police and had their cameras broken.
“You know, I thought that this whole campaign had really toughened me up and given me so much strength that I could handle anything,” she said in an emotional video. “But, probably, I’m still the weak woman I was in the first place. I have made a very difficult decision for myself,” she said, adding that the political unrest was not worth anyone losing their life for. The Belarusian interior ministry tallied 3,000 detentions after rallies on Monday night, 2,000 on Tuesday, and another 1,000 on Wednesday, according to the agency’s Telegram feed.
“Children are the main thing in life,” said Tikhanouskaya, who only ran for office because her husband, Syarhei, was imprisoned for his anti-government activism. Internet service in Belarus appeared to improve on Wednesday after a nearly three-day blackout that appeared devised to throttle the protests. The blackout was a rare example in Europe of a government voluntarily knocking its entire country offline to stifle dissent.
Belarusian state media released a second video in which Tikhanovskaya urged supporters not to protest. Her allies said it was recorded under duress. The EU has threatened to reimpose sanctions over suspected vote-rigging and the violent crackdown on demonstrators, and has announced an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Friday to discuss Belarus. The bloc’s most senior foreign policy official, Josep Borrell, said Sunday’s vote had been “neither free nor fair”.
Linas Linkevicius, foreign minister of Lithuania, said she was now safe in his country. Borrell has promised an “in-depth review” of EU relations with Belarus, threatening sanctions against “those responsible for the observed violence, unjustified arrests, and falsification of election results”.
The EU condemned the outcome of Sunday’s election, which was officially declared a landslide for Lukashenko with 80% of the vote. Tikhanovskaya, 37, came second with 10% despite having staged huge campaign rallies that observers said represented the biggest show of defiance ever seen during Lukashneko’s 26-year rule. The Dutch foreign minister, Stefan Blok, said on Tuesday that a reintroduction of sanctions had not been ruled out, but it was important to avoid measures that would affect the Belarusian population.
Brussels said the election had been “neither free nor fair” and warned it could punish those responsible for “violence, unjustified arrests, and falsification of election results”. Any sanctions must win the support of all 27 member states, and doubts remain about backing from Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, who in June called for remaining restrictions to be dropped.
It also accused Lukashenko’s government of “disproportionate and unacceptable violence” towards protesters and said it was reviewing its relations with Minsk. According to Belarus’s election commission, Tikhanovskaya took 10% of the vote while Lukashenko won 80%. Tikhanovskaya has filed a complaint against the results.
The Belarus government said on Tuesday that more than 2,000 people were detained across the country for taking part in unsanctioned protests on Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday. It added that 21 police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, and five of them were hospitalised. On Tuesday evening, protesters in Minsk clashed with police, who used stun grenades and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds. Protesters’ anger intensified over police attacks on demonstrators laying flowers at the site where a young man was killed a day earlier.
The previous day, the government reported more than 3,000 detentions and said 89 people were injured, including 39 law enforcement officers. In a video published on Tuesday morning, a visibly distressed Tikhanovskaya indicated she had faced an ultimatum involving her family and had been forced to flee for neighbouring Lithuania. “God forbid you face the kind of choice that I faced,” she said. “Children are the most important thing in our lives.”
The first fatality was confirmed on Monday when police said a man died after an explosive device went off in his hand. On Tuesday, people laying flowers and white ribbon at the spot in Minsk where he died were allegedly targeted by riot police. The circumstances of Tikhanovskaya’s departure suggested that Lukashenko was increasing pressure on her as he sought to quash the biggest protests of his 26 years in power.
“You can shut Tikhanovskaya up, but you won’t be able to intimidate and shut an entire nation up. We continue peaceful protests and don’t recognise Lukashenko as president,” said 24-year-old protester Denis Kruglyakov. The first fatality was confirmed on Monday when police said a man died after an explosive device went off in his hand. Opposition supporters have blamed police for his death. On Tuesday, people laying flowers and white ribbon at the spot in Minsk where he died were allegedly targeted by riot police.
Human rights group Viasna also reported mass detentions in the cities of Grodno, Brest and Vitebsk. The human rights group Viasna reported mass detentions in the cities of Grodno, Brest and Vitebsk.
The internet remained blocked for the third successive day in what appeared to be an attempt by the authorities to make it harder for protesters to coordinate their efforts and for people to find out what happened to their missing relatives. “We are still waiting for any sign or information,” said Lena Radomanova, who has been searching for a friend who has disappeared.
The White House said it was “deeply concerned” by the violence. Poland offered to act as a mediator between Lukashenko and the opposition and called for an emergency EU summit.The White House said it was “deeply concerned” by the violence. Poland offered to act as a mediator between Lukashenko and the opposition and called for an emergency EU summit.
Lukashenko has vowed not to allow Belarus to be “torn apart” and dismissed the protesters as pawns of foreign powers. Lukashenko, often referred to as Europe’s last dictator, has vowed not to allow Belarus to be “torn apart” and dismissed the protesters as pawns of foreign powers.
The Belarusian foreign ministry on Tuesday said it had “irrefutable” evidence of “interference from abroad.” The Belarusian foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had “irrefutable” evidence of “interference from abroad”.
Additional reporting by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels and Martin Farrer