Anti-Lukashenko protesters arrested

BELARUSIAN POLICE arrested scores of people last night at the latest protest against autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko, hours after he accused foreign states of fomenting revolution in his crisis-ridden country.

Mr Lukashenko is struggling to subdue some of the most stubborn protests of his 17-year rule and defuse anger over recent economic turmoil that has sent prices spiralling and wiped more than one-third off the value of the rouble currency.

Riot police and members of Mr Lukashenko’s security service – which is still called the KGB – have cracked down on activists co-ordinating demonstrations through online social networks and massing peacefully in squares in the capital Minsk and other cities.

Amid reports that popular websites were being blocked by the Belarusian authorities, Mr Lukashenko watched a military parade and addressed a Minsk crowd to mark the country’s Independence Day. Plainclothes police moved through the audience and arrested several suspected opposition members before the speech began.

“Unconscionable scenarios of colour revolutions, drawn up in the capitals of certain countries, are being intentionally forced upon us,” he said, referring to the “Orange” and “Rose” revolutions that brought pro-western leaders to power in Ukraine and Georgia.

“We understand the purpose of these attacks – to sow uncertainty and anxiety and destroy social harmony . . . This will not happen,” said the president, who was dressed in full military uniform.

Mr Lukashenko, who has blamed foreign media and the internet for encouraging the protests, complained that “weapons of mass information destruction” were being used against Belarus, where he has systematically destroyed most opposition parties and the independent press.

Many analysts say Mr Lukashenko’s spending spree before last December’s election – which critics say he rigged to secure another term – is to blame for Belarus’ economic woes.

The downturn has forced him to ask Russia and the International Monetary Fund for aid. Moscow is pressing him to sell Belarus’ best industrial assets to Russian businessmen to raise money.