'Resign!': Alexander Lukashenko heckled by factory workers in Minsk // 'We will win': vast Belarus rally adamant Lukashenko must go
Alexander Lukashenko’s grip on power in Belarus has taken a
further hit, as workers heckled him during a visit to a factory on the
outskirts of Minsk. The visit to the the state-owned MZKT military vehicles
factory on Monday was meant to show the Belarusian president was still in control
and retained the support of workers at the vast factories that are the backbone
of the country’s neo-Soviet economy, a day after the biggest
rally in the country’s recent history against his rule.
Instead, leaked video and audio from his speech to selected
workers at the factory showed him being met with shouts of “Resign!” Lukashenko
looked shaken but carried on speaking, as people yelled “liar!”. The president
arrived at the factory by helicopter, presumably because of safety concerns. In a defiant speech, he told the crowd that he would not
consider a rerun of last week’s tainted elections. “You are talking about unfair elections and want to hold
fair ones,” he told the crowd, which yelled “Yes!” in response. “My answer to
you is: we held elections, and as long as you don’t kill me, there won’t be any
other elections.”...
