There have been protests across Belarus since the election (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)Employees of state-controlled companies and factories have joined the strike in Belarus as pressure increased on president Alexander Lukashenko to step down. Employees of state-controlled companies and factories have joined the strike in Belarus as pressure increased on president Alexander Lukashenko to step down. The strike will continue and grow until he steps down.”Mr Lukashenko dismissed the strikes as insignificant on Monday and said he will not cave in to pressure but appeared nervous as dissent grew. “Our goal is to unite society, all of Belarus, so that the Belarusian society has a legitimate institution to negotiate and make demands,” Ms Kolesnikova told the AP on Tuesday. Western officials refused to recognise the election as free or fair and criticised Belarusian authorities for their violent crackdown on protesters.

Source: Irish Independent August 18, 2020 20:48 UTC