Belarus: opposition calls for European mediation to start discussions
The opposition in the street to reject the results of the presidential election in Minsk, Sunday October 4, 2020. REUTERS / Stringer
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6 min
Belarusian opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claims victory in the presidential election on August 9, calls on European countries to maintain “pressure”, in particular through “sanctions”, on the regime of the Belarusian president.
Convincing the Europeans to put pressure is also the task of the members of the presidency of the opposition coordination council exiled in Warsaw.
RFI met them.
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When she is not in Warsaw, Olga Kovalkova meets with senior foreign representatives alone or with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Detained in Minsk, forcibly taken to the border with Poland, she now spends her time pleading the cause of the Belarusian opposition to Europeans: “
At the end of August, the European Union's position was very weak on the issue. Belarusian question, but now we see change.
I think it's thanks to the trips we make, the personal meetings we have.
They have an impact on decision-making in these countries.
"
These meetings, with Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel or the French deputies this Wednesday, October 7 even, feed the narrative of Minsk and Moscow who maintain that the opposition is supported or even manipulated by the West.
Assertions rejected by Pavel Latouchko, former minister and ambassador: "
As a diplomat, member of the government, I was constantly in contact with the intelligence services of Belarus but also other countries, and this kind of assertion makes me smile, and at the same time, I find it very regrettable.
It is power and he alone that has shattered the trust of society with its actions, its illogical behavior in the face of the pandemic, and with the frauds, lies, violence and murder.
"
The opposition is now asking for European mediation to start a dialogue with the authorities.
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See also: Minsk and Moscow denounce European sanctions against the Belarusian regime
♦ Awakening of society
In Belarus, the
protest movement
will enter its third month at the end of the week.
Since the August 9 poll, tens of thousands of Belarusians have continued to demonstrate en masse every Sunday against fraud and the repression of demonstrations.
Rock legend in Belarus, Lavon Volski regularly plays in the courtyards of buildings in Minsk in support of the demonstrators.
For his dissenting views, he and his group were blacklisted and banned from performing in Belarus until 2017. Today, he is delighted that Belarusian society has emerged from its torpor.
RFI met him in Warsaw where he left for a two-week tour.
“
I've spent so much time trying to wake people up, to say, '
Don't sleep, but what are you doing?
"
But most people responded:" What you want, we have to earn our living, one has to plant potatoes in our dacha.
"
But now I see that a majority of think like that anymore.
For me it is a source of concern but also a huge joy because I had never seen our people in this state.
In recent years, I didn't like my city, Minsk, with its sleepy people and its youth who seemed very happy to go out to trendy bars.
And for these elections, I thought we would be entitled to the usual scenario: election fraud, evening demonstrations, brutal repressions, maybe even demonstrations on the second day, but they would be violently dispersed and people would end. by falling in line and going back to work, pissed off against power as usual.
But there, from the start, the scenario was different, and even during the campaign, with this female triumvirate.
All of this gives hope.
"
"You say goodbye to your mother as if you were going to war"
Yevgeny (who does not want to give his last name for security reasons) lives about 100 kilometers from Minsk, but he did not miss a single Sunday of demonstrations.
In Warsaw, where he took for treatment a friend injured by the police on the sidelines of a demonstration, he confided in RFI.
“
Of course, I am afraid, I am worried when I take the road to go to the demonstration in Minsk.
The friends with whom I make the trip even take painkillers and for my part, my heart beats very quickly: my watch which displays my pulse, indicates 120 whereas in normal times, I am at 60. Yes, it's scary, because you never know how it's gonna be.
When you leave the house you say goodbye to your mother like you are going to war You tell yourself that you still have a lot of things to do at home and that it would be terrible if you were arrested, but you go there anyway, despite the risks.
Like others, I have at home, in my garage, a suitcase in which I put my papers, money, clothes, a suitcase that I can take in case of need, if I had to flee to abroad.
I also have a small bag in which I put a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and other things that I would need in prison.
I do what I can.
But I am not ready for more radical actions.
I don't think a fight would be good.
I hope that these peaceful protests will eventually bear fruit and that we win and I hope that will happen before the end of the year.
"
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Belarus
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Petro Poroshenko
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