Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic of more than 9 million people since 1994 and is running for the sixth time in the elections scheduled for August 9. It has long attracted international criticism for the suppression of dissent, and the country's secret police - still known as the KGB - often detain and harass opposition activists and independent journalists.
Demonstrations on Friday, in which thousands marched through the streets of 10 cities, were sparked by a series of arrests, during which opposition activists called for an attempt to remove popular candidates from the presidential race. Two of Lukashenko's main opponents are currently in the KGB and detained by the police: the famous YouTube blogger Sergei Tikhanovskiy, who was arrested at the end of May, and the former president of Belgazprombank Viktor Babaryko, who was arrested on June 18 with his son. and campaign manager, Eduard Babaryko, according to their campaigns.
Following news of the latest arrest, activists began to form "human solidarity chains", some of which spanned several kilometers, according to organizers and local media.
The independent non-governmental organization Viasna, which monitors protest activities in Belarus, reported on Saturday that at least 120 people were arrested overnight, including many journalists.
Lukashenko said the protests were a foreign plot on Friday and said the country's security forces "thwarted a Maidan", referring to the 2014 revolution in Ukraine that overthrew the country's pro-Russian president .
"Do not make me choose. If I behave democratically, if I show them that I am so warm and vague, I have a chance of losing the country," added Lukashenko.
The country does not have reliable independent political polls, but in early June a "Sasha three percent" meme was in vogue on Belarusian social media, referring to the low number of Lukashenko in unofficial independent online media polls. . Sasha is a nickname for Alexander.
Eduard Babaryko's girlfriend said in a Facebook article on Thursday that he was being questioned at the KGB detention center on charges of tax evasion. Viktor Babaryko's lawyers said they were unable to visit their client. As of Saturday, the Babarykos had not been released.
The arrest was preceded by a series of police raids on Babaryko's family members' offices and apartments. The head of the Belarusian State Control Committee, Ivan Tertel, said that 20 current and former bank executives linked to Babaryko were arrested on various charges, including tax evasion and embezzlement, and admitted that "Babaryko is the organizer of a criminal regime".
Lukashenko said that several candidates against him in this election had ties to Russia. Several Belarusian media have called Babaryko a "candidate linked to the Kremlin" when he ran Belgazprombank, a subsidiary of the Russian public energy company Gazprom, for 20 years. Babaryko himself denied the allegation and asked the media not to call him a pro-Russian candidate. Lukashenko has long had close relations with Russia, which has close economic ties and a customs union with Belarus.
The Kremlin also denied supporting Babaryko and dismissed the charges against Gazprom.
"The Kremlin has no candidates in the Belarusian election," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, earlier this week.
Putin and Lukashenko exchanged a phone call this week but did not discuss the situation around the Belgazprombank, according to Peskov. Lukashenko is expected to travel to Moscow next week to attend a postponed Victory Day parade in Red Square.
The British and American governments have condemned the arrests and urged the Belarusian authorities to respect their citizens' right to peaceful protests.
"The United States urges the Belarusian government to honor its international commitments to respect fundamental freedoms by allowing the Belarusian people to assemble freely and peacefully and to release the detained persons, including the journalists covering the peaceful rally this evening," said the U.S. Embassy in Minsk on Twitter. tweet.
