Thousands Protest Belarus Regime
MINSK, Belarus — Opposition deputies from Belarus’ disbanded parliament led about 3,000 people Sunday in a protest against President Alexander G. Lukashenko’s authoritarian government.
It was the first large-scale protest against Lukashenko since he won a controversial victory in a Nov. 24 referendum giving him nearly unlimited authority and extending his term until 2001.
Deputies from the former parliament--which Lukashenko replaced with a new, loyalist chamber--told the crowd that the president is trampling democracy in the former Soviet republic.
“The country is plunging into the darkness of tyranny, where it is not the state which serves the people but the people serve the state headed by one fuehrer,” Semen Sharetsky told the rally in front of the government building.
He called on Belarussians to unite on behalf of democracy and appealed to other nations not to turn their backs on Belarus.
“Don’t deceive yourselves and neglect the appearance of a dictatorial regime in the center of Europe,” he said.
The demonstration proceeded peacefully. Many protesters carried signs reading “Down with the junta.”
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