8/16/20
Tens of thousands of Belarusian opposition supporters gathered for the largest protest rally in recent history in Minsk on Sunday as President Alexander Lukashenko rejected calls to step down in a defiant speech. Crowds of protesters marched through the streets to the central Independence Square, with an AFP journalist estimating the turnout at more than 100,0000, a scale of protest not seen since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Belarusian independent news site Tut.by called the rally "the largest in the history of independent Belarus." Columns of demonstrators raised victory signs and held flowers and balloons as a sea of protesters gathered in Independence Square, the focus of peaceful demonstrations in recent days. "Now we're changing history," said 26-year-old Yekaterina Gorbina, a content manager. "Blood was spilled and the people will never forget that." Darya Kukhta, 39, a mother of six, told AFP: "We believe that a new Belarus is beginning. I'm very happy to be seeing this with my own eyes." Demonstrators held placards with slogans such as "You can't wash off the blood" and "Lukashenko must answer for the torture and dead." Other major towns and cities in the ex-Soviet country of 9 million also saw large rallies, local media reported.
More and more Belarusians have taken to the streets over the last week to condemn Lukashenko's disputed victory and a subsequent violent crackdown by riot police and abuse of detainees. Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet country for 26 years, is facing an unprecedented challenge to his leadership. The opposition has called for a general strike from Monday after hundreds of workers at state-run factories downed tools on Friday in a first sign that Lukashenko's traditional support base was turning against him. European governments have condemned the election and police crackdown, and EU ministers on Friday agreed to draw up a list of targets in Belarus for a new round of sanctions. Tikhanovskaya has announced the creation of a Coordination Council to ensure a transfer of power, asking foreign governments to "help us in organising a dialogue with Belarusian authorities." She demanded the authorities release all detainees, remove security forces from the streets and open criminal cases against those who ordered the crackdown. She has said she will organise new elections if Lukashenko steps down.
