Sun 25 October 2020:
Scores of people were detained by police in the town of Lida in western Belarus on Sunday during a protest, Russia’s RIA news agency cited the regional branch of the Belarus interior ministry as saying.
At least 100,000 people marched through the centre of the Belarusian capital earlier in the day to give what they called a “people’s ultimatum” to Alexander Lukashenko: step down, or face a nationwide strike that could cripple the economy.
Long columns of protesters, wrapped in the red-white traditional Belarusian flag that has become the symbol of the protests, streamed through the city centre, shouting “resign!” and “strike!”
As usual, authorities cut off mobile internet across central Minsk, closed metro stations and placed cordons of riot police at key sites. Military and riot control vehicles were positioned throughout the centre and officers in balaclavas and wielding shields stood at almost every intersection, but they did not attack the crowds until the evening.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, called Lukashenko on Saturday, one of the only conversations the Belarusian leader has had with a western politician since his controversial re-election. According to a description of the call published by Lukashenko’s team, the two men discussed “the internal political situations in both Belarus and the US”.
The EU has placed sanctions on many in the Belarusian regime since the protests began, and Lukashenko has turned to Vladimir Putin for support. The Russian president is known to dislike Lukashenko but appears to have decided that propping him up is better than allowing a change of power to come from the street. The head of Russia’s spy agency, Sergei Naryshkin, flew to Minsk last week in one of many high-profile Russian visits.
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