On a visit to a Minsk tractor plant on Monday, Mr Lukashenko sought to defend his disputed victory, telling workers: “We held the election. Until you kill me, there will be no other election.”
As Mr Lukashenko spoke at the factory, workers booed him and chanted “leave”.
That sounds like a person begging to be removed from office in way Ghadaffi was (ahem) removed. Normally, I’m sickened by that sort of violence, but when the leader says it like that, it seems the only way.
Great idea for a topic.
Done.
FWIW I preferred the original name of this thread.
What was it? I’ve forgotten.
Something like “Protests Against Authoritarian Regimes.”
Maybe “Drag Them Out” seemed to have more zip?
But it doesn’t exactly say who needs to be dragged.
Better? Or do we need the protest angle?
I think maybe it’s implied . . .
I think using the ankles as the dragging point may be a bit too kind but the alternatives might look bad, so it’s reasonable enough.
Right?! Toddler management time.
I literally just posted on another site about how Trumper tantrums are like when you won’t let a toddler wear their underwear as a hat.
Riot police took up positions near the square, with loudspeakers blaring warnings that the protest was illegal.
The defence ministry issued a statement invoking Belarus’s sacrifices during World War Two, and saying the army would take over the protection of war memorials.
The 65-year-old president insists he won the election fairly and has ruled holding another poll. On Saturday he accused Nato of “trying to topple the authorities” and install a new president in Minsk.
He said he was moving troops to the country’s western borders to counter a Nato build-up in Poland and Lithuania, and vowed to “defend the territorial integrity of our country”.
According to Belarus officials, she was with two opposition colleagues, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, who were in a BMW car. At the crossing, the car “accelerated sharply”, and Ms Kolesnikova “found herself outside the vehicle”. The official said she was “pushed out of it” and it continued to move towards Ukraine. Mr Lukashenko told Russian reporters she had been held for “violating the rules on crossing the state border”.
But Ukraine and opposition activists have rejected Belarus’s version of events. Anton Geraschenko, Ukraine’s deputy internal affairs minister, described the two men’s departure as “forcible expulsion”.
“Maria Kolesnikova could not be expelled from Belarus, because this brave woman took action to prevent her movement across the border,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “She remained on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.”
She is then reported to have torn up her passport at the border so she could not enter Ukraine, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency which cited “informed sources”.