Opposition candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya
Photo: Valery Sharifulin / imago images / ITAR-TASSThe opposition candidate Svetlana Tichanovskaya (37), who lost out in the presidential election in Belarus, has fled to Lithuania. "She has arrived in Lithuania and is safe," said the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius (59) on Tuesday. The political situation in Belarus had heated up after the presidential election on Sunday.
After the controversial re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (65), serious confrontations between security forces and demonstrators critical of the government broke out in the capital Minsk on the second evening in a row. A protester was killed. The interior ministry said the man was killed by an explosive device that he wanted to hurl at police officers. In addition, according to a police spokeswoman, several people were injured in the protests. She did not provide any information on the number of injuries.
The demonstrators accuse Lukashenko, who has ruled authoritarian for 26 years, of massive electoral fraud. According to the official election results, he is said to have been re-elected for a sixth term on Sunday with more than 80 percent of the vote. Tichanovskaya, who had a large number of visitors to their rallies in the run-up to the election, is said to have only come in at just under 10 percent.
"Shame!" shouted the demonstrators in Minsk. As on the previous evening, the security forces proceeded brutally against thousands of people protesting on Monday. Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, reports from the AFP news agency and other eyewitnesses reported.
Bloody argument
Protesters threw stones at the security forces and shot down fireworks. They also erected barricades made of sacks, buckets and metal barriers, as observed by an AFP photographer. "Our goal is to depose Lukashenko," said 34-year-old protester Pavel. "He's not worth being president."
According to the Interior Ministry, more than 50 civilians and 39 police officers had been injured during the demonstrations the day before. In Minsk and other cities, a total of around 3,000 demonstrators were arrested in the hours after the polls closed.
Tichanovskaya said she did not take part in the protests herself. In this way, she wants to "avoid provocations," said Anna Krasulina, the spokeswoman for the presidential candidate, to AFP. "The authorities can use any provocative situation to arrest them. And we need them in freedom," said the spokeswoman of Tichanovskaya. The 37-year-old opposition candidate had previously made it clear that she did not recognize the official election result.
more on the subject
After the night of violence in Belarus: the election control officially declared Lukashenko the winner
After the presidential election: police in Belarus beat down demonstrators
After hours of bloody protests, the situation in the country initially calmed down on Tuesday morning. The opposition movement "A Country to Live" (Strana dlja Schisni) wrote after seven hours of rallies against election fraud under the authoritarian head of state Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday: "That was a historic evening". The days of Lukashenko are numbered after the excesses of violence with rubber bullets and stun grenades against the citizens, it said. Belarus is considered the last dictatorship on the European continent.
akn / afp / dpa
