MINSK, Belarus (AP) — More than 10,000 opposition supporters marched to the heart of the Belarusian capital to protest what the opposition claims was large-scale vote-rigging in Sunday's presidential election.
The opposition activists gathered in defiance of longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who had threatened to use force if they went ahead with the election-night protest.
Leading opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev was beaten by riot police while leading a few hundred of his supporters to the demonstration and was hospitalized, according to his wife. His left eye was bruised, his nose was bleeding and he was nauseous and unable to speak, Olga Neklyayeva told the Associated Press.
Protesters rally as they denounce the Belarus presidential election saying it was falsified in the capital, Minsk, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010.
After the polls closed, thousands of opposition activists converged as planned on October Square, but most of the square had been flooded to make an ice skating rink and pop music boomed from loudspeakers.
The protesters then set off along a main avenue toward Independence Square, where parliament and the main government buildings are located, stopping outside the Central Election Commission.
Russia and the European Union are closely monitoring the election, having offered major economic inducements to tilt Belarus in their direction.
Signs that Lukashenko is leaning Westward would be a moral victory for countries that have long criticized his harsh rule and worried about his connections with vehemently anti-West regimes. For Russia, a return to the fold would bolster Moscow’s desire to remain the power-broker in former Soviet regions.
Protesters rally as they denounce Belarus presidential election saying it was falsified in the capital, Minsk, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010.
In casting his ballot, Lukashenko expressed confidence that he would win a fourth term. He denounced the planned opposition rally as being led by "bandits and saboteurs" and proclaimed that it would not take place.
"Don’t worry, nobody is going to be on the square tonight," Lukashenko said while voting with his 6-year-old son, Kolya.
But thousands turned out.
"How can we counter a dictator who created a police state in the past 16 years?" said 21-year-old student Artur Makayonak, who was among the activists heading to the square. "Only our protests, our strive for freedom and a peaceful rally."
Opposition candidates and rights activists said five senior campaign workers and 27 opposition activists have been detained since Saturday. Police refused to comment.
Neklyayev had condemned the detentions.
"When the representatives of one of the candidates get arrested on the orders of another candidate, that cannot be called an election," he said Sunday afternoon.
Nearly a quarter of the 7 million registered voters went to the polls in five days of early voting last week, according to the Central Election Commission. The opposition and election observers say early voting allows for ballot stuffing as boxes are poorly guarded and voting precincts are poorly monitored.
Lukashenko, a 56-year-old former collective firm manager, maintains a quasi-Soviet state in the country of 10 million, allowing no independent broadcast media, stifling dissent and keeping about 80 percent of the industry under state control.
Although once seen as almost a lapdog of Russia, Lukashenko in recent years has quarreled intensively with the Kremlin as Russia raised prices for the below-market gas and oil on which Belarus’ economy depends.
However, his tone changed this month after Russia agreed to drop tariffs for oil exported to Belarus — a concession worth an estimated $4 billion a year.
But Lukashenko also is working to curry favor with the West, which has harshly criticized his years of human rights abuses and repressive politics. Last week, he called for improved ties with the U.S., which in previous years he had cast as an enemy.
The European Union, eager to see reforms in the obstreperous country on its borders, has offered €3 billion ($3.9 billion) in aid to Belarus if the elections are judged to be free and fair. The prospects of such a judgment and payout seem remote, however, analysts said.
Lukashenko faced nine other candidates, who were uncharacteristically allotted time for debates on state TV and radio and whose campaign rallies have met less official obstruction than in previous elections.
A candidate needs to get half the total votes in order to win in the first round; the large number of challengers appears to make that unachievable for any of them, but a combined strong performance could deny Lukashenko an outright victory. The opposition claims that a first-round victory for the president could only come through fraud.
Some voters who cast their ballots in -8 C (17 F) degree temperatures in Minsk said they favored Lukashenko in order to preserve stability.
"Only Lukashenko promises stability and calm. We don’t need upheavals," said Zinaida Pulshitskaya, 62, a retired teacher.
