Belarus police storm opposition encampment

Saturday rally may be pivotal
That has raised increasing questions about what the opposition movement’s strategy is, or even if it has one. A rally called for Saturday — the anniversary of the declaration of the first independent Belarusian state, and a traditional day for opposition rallies — is likely to be key in determining how much support the opposition has.

“March 25 will be an important day. ... On that day we will make known the long-term plans of the opposition,” Milinkevich told The Associated Press.

Later, speaking to a nighttime crowd of about 3,000, he said, “The 25th will be a day of freedom for thousands and thousands of Belarusians. History has shown that the Belarusian fight for freedom has not gone unnoticed. We have come out into the square.”

Milinkevich said assailants attacked a top aide Thursday, one of the latest incidents in what a leading international security body called a campaign of persecution against Belarusians challenging the results of Sunday’s elections.

Viktor Korniyenko, a deputy chief on Milinkevich’s staff, was clubbed on the head by two assailants and is hospitalized in serious condition, opposition spokesman Pavel Mazheika said.

‘This makes us stronger’
“The authorities are stepping up repression, but this makes us stronger,” Milinkevich told the nighttime rally.

The attack came a day after state television broadcast a recording of an alleged conversation in which Korniyenko consulted with a Polish NGO, the Batory Foundation, on strategies for protests against Lukashenko’s third term.

Lukashenko has repeatedly claimed that the opposition is supported by Western forces seeking to bring him down.

The Central Election Commission released final election results Thursday saying Lukashenko received 83 percent of the vote and Milinkevich just 6.1 percent.

Inauguration on March 31?
The commission chief, Lidiya Yermoshina, said the inauguration would take place March 31, but its secretary Nikolai Lozovik told The Associated Press that date was tentative and the ceremony would probably be held later.

Lukashenko, a former collective farm director, is genuinely popular with many Belarusians who credit him with providing economic and political stability. But Milinkevich says Lukashenko’s official tally is inflated and is calling for a new vote.

A top trans-Atlantic democracy and security body said Thursday it had information about more than 200 detentions in the three days following the election, and called on the authorities to release everyone detained in connection with the peaceful protest.

“The Belarusian authorities must immediately put an end to the persecution of their opponents,” the chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Karel de Gucht, said in a statement.

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