Workers at a state-run factory yesterday confronted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with chants of “Leave” as pressure built on him to step down over a disputed election.
Employees at several factories and state television walked off the job after a historic protest on Sunday brought tens of thousands to the streets.
In footage widely shared on social media, Lukashenko was confronted by workers at the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT), who shouted him down with chants of “Leave” as he tried to give a speech.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A visibly angry Lukashenko walked off the stage, saying: “Thank you, I have said everything. You can shout ‘Leave.’”
Pressure has been building on the ex-Soviet nation’s long-time leader since the Aug. 9 election, which he claims to have won with 80 percent of the vote.
More than 100,000 people took part in a “March for Freedom” in the capital, Minsk, on Sunday following calls from main opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for continued demonstrations.
A brutal police crackdown has drawn widespread condemnation and appears to have turned even Lukashenko’s support base at state-owned industries against him.
EU leaders are to hold an emergency video summit on Belarus tomorrow, while Germany said it was prepared to back an expansion of previously announced sanctions.
Hundreds of workers and protesters gathered outside the MZKT plant where Lukashenko was visiting, waving the red-and-white flag of the opposition and demanding his resignation.
“We plan to participate in all peaceful strikes, in all peaceful protest actions ... so that the government will finally realize they are fighting with their own people,” Ilya Rybkin, a 30-year-old road worker, said outside the plant.
After flying in by helicopter, Lukashenko told the workers he would not give in to calls for a new election.
“You will never expect me to do something under pressure,” he was quoted as saying by his press service. “If anyone is unwilling to work and wants to leave, no one will harass you, do as you please, the door is open.”
Demonstrators also gathered outside the Minsk headquarters of state television, where local media reported that 600 people joined the strike.
In a video posted online, Tikhanovskaya said that although she never planned to enter politics she was prepared to temporarily take over the country’s leadership.
“Fate decreed that I’d find myself on the frontline of a confrontation against arbitrary rule and injustice,” Tikhanovskaya said in exile in Lithuania.
“I am ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader during this period,” she said.
She has demanded the authorities release all detainees, remove security forces from the streets and open criminal cases against those who ordered the crackdown.
She has also said she would organize new elections if Lukashenko steps down.
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