Belarusian police on Wednesday fired tear gas and arrested more than 150 people after the secret inauguration of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko triggered protests and fresh condemnation in the West.
Several thousand protesters, many carrying the red-and-white opposition flag, took to the streets of the capital, Minsk, and other cities following a surprise announcement that Lukashenko had been sworn into a sixth term in office following disputed elections last month.
Clashes between masked riot police and protesters broke out in Minsk, with the Viasna rights group saying that more than 150 people had been arrested in the capital, as well as the southwestern city of Brest and other places.
Photo: Reuters / Belapan
Several European countries, including Germany, and the US responded to Lukashenko’s inauguration by refusing to recognize him as president.
“The announced results were fraudulent and did not convey legitimacy,” a US Department of State spokesperson said in Washington. “The United States cannot consider Alexander Lukashenko the legitimately elected leader of Belarus.”
The state-run Belta news agency broke the news that Lukashenko had “taken office as president of Belarus” during a ceremony in the Palace of Independence on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
It was not shown live on television unlike previous ceremonies, but Belta published photographs of the mustachioed leader swearing the oath of allegiance at a podium in a blue suit with his hand on a copy of the constitution.
“I can’t, I don’t have the right to abandon Belarusians,” Lukashenko said in his inaugural address, according to a transcript of his remarks later released by his office.
He blamed the mass protests since last month, which have seen tens of thousands take to the streets, on “disorientation of society” and thanked law enforcement for showing “firmness.”
Lukashenko said that he and his allies had “prevented a catastrophe,” although the ceremony in front of 700 guests drew mockery from critics.
“If the inauguration had been announced in advance, 200,000 demonstrators would have gathered outside his palace,” Viasna head Ales Belyatsky said.
“Where are the rejoicing citizens? Where is the diplomatic corps?” opposition activist and former minister Pavel Latushko asked on social media.
On Wednesday evening, several thousand protesters took to the streets, with some chanting “Long live Belarus” and others wearing cardboard crowns.
Many derided the 66-year-old, who has been in power since 1994.
“I had my cat sworn in today,” one placard read.
Video and pictures released by Tut.by, an independent Belarusian media firm, showed riot police violently dispersing protesters who yelled “fascists,” while some demonstrators, including women, had bloodied faces.
Tear gas was used during scuffles between police and protesters.
Earlier in the day Lukashenko’s opposition rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya reiterated her claim to be the true winner of the elections, saying that the “so-called inauguration is of course a farce.”
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