Belarus protesters still braving cold
Hundreds of demonstrators shivered and cheered through a frigid night and morning snowfall on a Minsk square, trying to keep up momentum in an arduous and unlikely drive to overturn election results.
The results gave a new term to the authoritarian who in 12 years has turned Belarus into a state denounced as Europe’s last dictatorship.
A grey dawn marked the start of a third day of protest against the overwhelming victory declared for Alexander Lukashenko, the incumbent leader authorities said won 82.6% of a vote that Western governments and Europe’s main election-monitoring organisation criticised with terms ranging from 'seriously flawed' to 'blatantly fraudulent'.
Lukashenko, who despises the West, asserted that his foes had failed to topple him in a foreign-backed “revolution”.
The protests began on Sunday evening as polls closed, attracting some 10,000 people in a demonstration that was extraordinary both for its size and for the non-interference by police, who usually move quickly and harshly to break up unauthorised gatherings in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
After several elated hours, the demonstrators went home and leaders called on them to come to Oktyabrskaya Square again yesterday evening. They did, but only at about half-strength. The number fell to a few hundred by midnight.
The number was minuscule compared with the crowds of 100,000 or more that jammed the centre of the Ukrainian capital for weeks in December 2004 and forced a rerun of a flawed presidential election.
The Belarusian opposition was trying to mimic techniques that worked in their southern neighbour.
Through the night, protesters stood around a dozen small tents and locked arms to protect the tiny encampment in Oktyabrskaya Square. Others tried to bring blankets, food and hot beverages to help them endure the below-freezing temperatures, but often they were detained by police.
Milinkevich has branded Lukashenko an “illegal, illegitimate president”, describing his official vote tally as “monstrously inflated” and calling for a new election.
International observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards. Europe’s main human rights organisation said it was a “farce”, and the United States called for a new election.
However, the leverage of the international community seemed limited, and the diminished size of the crowd suggested the opposition was losing momentum.
Milinkevich’s appeal for a repeat vote was backed by the United States. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the election was flawed by a “climate of fear” and hinted at possible travel restrictions on Belarusian leaders. The EU was considering broadening such restrictions.
“The United States will continue to stand with the people of Belarus,” McClellan said.
By contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Lukashenko and said the results would help strengthen the alliance of the two ex-Soviet nations.
Lukashenko, in power since 1994, said voters had shown “who’s the boss” in Belarus.
“The revolution that was talked about so much … has failed,” he told a nationally televised news conference.
He asserted that Sunday’s protest leaders were in the pay of Western ambassadors, and claimed there was no crackdown because the opposition was weak.
The observer mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said yesterday that the election did not meet standards for a free and fair vote, pointing to widespread detentions of opposition activists and other problems.
Milinkevich said two top opposition figures, United Civil Party leader Anatoly Lebedko and his deputy Alexander Dobrovolsky, were detained early today. He also said his two sons had been detained by police for about an hour on their way to pick up food for the protest.
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