Belarusian authorities to block more than 50 news websites such as massive protests Next

(Minsk, Belarus) – The authorities of Belarus has registered more than 50 blocks media sites, while the country was rocked by two weeks of protests demanding that the authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko to step down after 26 years in power. The Belarusian Association of Journalists reports contain arrests Saturday, the sites for the US-funded Radio Liberty and Belsat, a Polish-funded satellite television channel focused on neighboring Belarus. On Friday, the state stopped the publication of two printed tops independent newspapers, Narodnaya Volya and Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing a malfunction. The unprecedented protests in Belarus for its size and duration broken after the August 9 presidential elections, election officials say that Lukashenko delivered a sixth term in a landslide. The protesters say that the official results are fradulent and ask Lukashenko to step down. Police responded harshly arrested about 7,000 people and hard to beat many of them in the early days of the protests. But the police raid only expands the scope of anti-government protests and strikes in some of the most important factories in the country, the former bases of support for Lukashenko called. Some police have published videos of themselves burning their uniforms and exit. In a huge show of defiance, estimated at 200,000 protesters August 16 in Minsk capital raised. Lukashenko’s main election challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for another mass demonstration by the opposition to protest on Sunday. “We are closer than ever to our dream,” he said in a video message from Lithuania, which took place retreat after the elections. Some previous presidential challengers in Belarus imprisoned for years. shows public support for Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, it has been relatively modest. A pro-government rally in Minsk on August 16, about a quarter more people attracted to the march of protest. On Saturday it showed only about 25 people for a bike ride on support for the president. dressed On Saturday, hundreds of women in white formed a chain in Minsk, in protest, and a larger rally was scheduled in the evening. “Threats, intimidation, blocking more. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians as the saying goes” from all angles and squares, “said Anna Skuratovich, one of the women of the chain. The protesters say they fed the country falling living standards and were irritated to the dismissal of the crown Lukashenko. Lukashenko pandemic has claimed that the protests were inspired by Western forces to deploy near the western border Belarus’, including the US and NATO troops. the alliance denies noted that the ‘claim. on Saturday, Lukashenko has renewed the call during a visit to a military exercise in the Grodno region, near the border with Poland and Lithuania. “you see that already have an” alternative president drags “he said , referring to Tsikhanouskaya. “the military support is evident – the movement of NATO troops to” Lukashenko boundaries later spoke to a rally of several thousand supporters in Grodno. which he has threatened to close factories as of Monday strike. It affects some important companies in the country, including manufacturers of vehicles and fertilizer, a potential blow to the economy largely been controlled has taken. the authorities have threatened the protesters on Friday with criminal charges in an attempt to end the protests. Investigators also several opposition activists for questioning as part of a criminal probe into a Council created launched with the aim of coordinating a transition of power to the former Soviet republic of 9,5 million euro. ___ Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this story.
image copyright of Dmitry Lovetsky AP