Minsk, Belarus — Thousands of factory workers in Belarus took to the streets and crowds of demonstrators besieged the state television headquarters Monday, raising the …
Minsk, Belarus — Thousands of factory workers in Belarus took to the streets and crowds of demonstrators besieged the state television headquarters Monday, raising the pressure on authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to step down after 26 years in office. On the ninth straight day of protests against the official results of the Aug.9 presidential vote, Lukashenko flew by helicopter to a factory in the capital in a bid to rally support but was heckled by workers chanting “Go away!” Facing the angry crowd, the 65-year-old former state farm director dismissed the calls to step down amid a wave of strikes declared by numerous state-controlled factories. “I will never cave in to pressure,” Lukashenko told the workers, saying those who intend to go on strike could leave if they want. “Some of you might have got the impression that the government no longer exists, that it has tumbled down. The government will never collapse, you know me well.” “There will be no new election until you kill me,” he said, charging that the protests are ruining the economy and warning that the country will collapse if he steps down. He vowed to resist pressure from the demonstrators, who he said have been “poisoned by social networks,” but suggested that he’s open for discussions on constitutional reforms in an apparent bid to stem the tide of protests. As he spoke, over 5,000 striking workers from the Minsk Tractor Plant marched down the streets of the city, demanding that Lukashenko cede his post to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leading opposition candidate. “Lukashenko is a former president. He needs to go,” said Sergei Dylevsky, the leader of the protest at the Minsk Tractor Plant, adding that Tsikhanouskaya is “our president, legitimate and elected by the people.” Dylevsky voiced concern that Lukashenko’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin could herald an attempt by the country’s giant eastern neighbor to send in troops to prop up Lukashenko.
