Minsk
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said Monday supporters were beginning a nationwide strike after her deadline expired for strongman Alexander Lukashenko to step down.
“Today the People’s Strike is beginning,” Tikhanovskaya said on her Telegram channel. “Employees of state factories and enterprises, transport workers and miners, teachers and students have gone on strike since this morning.”
All major stores and pharmacies were open in the capital Minsk on Monday morning but some small business were shuttered, an AFP reporter said. Tikhanovskaya had given Lukashenko until Sunday to quit power, halt violence against protesters and release political prisoners, warning he would otherwise face a general strike from Monday.
The 66-year-old Lukashenko, who the opposition accuses of stealing August polls, ignored the ultimatum and police cracked down on the latest of a series of opposition protests on Sunday. Several thousand pensioners and students took to the streets of Minsk on Monday to back the workers, an AFP reporter said.
Tikhanovskaya also called on employees at private businesses, clergy and athletes to join in with the strike. The 38-year-old opposition figure, who claims to have won the August 9 election and is now based in EU member Lithuania, did not provide any figures on the number of people participating.
