More than 1,000 people, many of them students, gathered in central Minsk tonight to protest against the referendum
Published:
19 October 2004 y., Tuesday
More than 1,000 people, many of them students, gathered in central Minsk tonight to protest against the referendum called by Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to extend his staying in power.
Protestors chanted "Shame!" and "Fascists!"
Police and protesters clashed briefly and several demonstrators were reportedly detained.
Official figures showed Lukashenka won the support of nearly 80 percent of registered voters for a proposal to lift a constitutional rule limiting him to two terms in power.
In the parliamentary vote, the beleaguered liberal opposition failed to win a single seat in the 110-member lower house. The head of the monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Tone Tingsgaard, said the "vote fell significantly short of [international] standards."
The U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also echoed doubts expressed by the OSCE.
Russia was more supportive of the vote, saying monitors from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had found no serious law violations.
Šaltinis:
rferl.org
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Moon bears pierced with metal tubes to extract an ingredient used in medicine have been saved from captivity in China.
more »
Georgian acrobat Ramaz Garshaulishvili is trying to revive interest in the circus by demonstrating his rope walking skills.
more »
The latest trend for New Yorkers who are low on storage space - storing clothes in the oven and kitchen cupboards.
more »
Around the world 10 million people live in refugee camps - more than the population of several small European Union countries combined.
more »
On World Press Freedom Day on 3 May the Commission will officially launch the Lorenzo Natali Prize for 2010.
more »
What was once some of Albania's most beautiful coastline has been turned into toxic dumping grounds. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
more »
A set of two-square-metre capsule apartments in Beijing give struggling individuals a chance to have their own space.
more »
The World Bank is adding its weight to efforts to save the world's endangered tigers.
more »
The statue of the Little Mermaid that has sat atop Copenhagen's harbour for nearly a hundred years is unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo.
more »
Beijing city officials have come up with a novel way to combat the stench of the city's growing rubbish tips.
more »