Belarus protesters build a barricade, calling for Lukashenko resignation

Minsk: Belarus protesters constructed a barricade in a Minsk street on Monday night as clashes continued for the second day after the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The barricade was later destroyed by a police riot truck. At least one person died as Belarusian police clashed with protesters on Monday after the opposition accused Lukashenko of rigging his re-election victory amid a chorus of criticism from Western leaders. Helmeted police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades and used batons to disperse thousands of people in Minsk in a second night of violence. Protesters set up barricades in several areas and threw Molotov cocktails.

One man died while trying to throw an unidentified explosive device at police that blew up in his hands, the government said. Local media reported clashes breaking out in other towns. In power for more than a quarter of a century, Lukashenko claimed a landslide win against Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who emerged from obscurity to lead the biggest challenge to his rule in years.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the vote was "not free and fair" and condemned "ongoing violence against protesters and the detention of opposition supporters." Events are being closely watched by Russia, whose oil exports run through Belarus to the West and which has long regarded the country as a buffer zone against NATO. They are also being monitored by the West, which has tried to lure Minsk from Moscow's orbit.

Germany called for the European Union to discuss sanctions on Belarus that were lifted in 2016 to foster better relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin used a congratulatory telegram to nudge Lukashenko to accept deeper ties between the two nations, which the Belarusian leader has previously rejected as an assault on his country's independence.

Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995, and the run-up to the vote saw authorities jail Lukashenko's rivals and open criminal investigations of others who voiced opposition. Tikhanouskaya's campaign rallies drew some of the biggest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991

Bolivia protests rattle political truce as country graples with pandemic

La Paz/EL Alto: Bolivia's government said on Monday it had ordered police and military to protect key installations and the transport of medical oxygen after clashes broke out over protests and roadblocks by opposition supporters demanding a quick election.

Tensions are brewing as the South American nation heads for a key presidential election on Oct. 18, which has been delayed due to COVID-19. Supporters of unseated former leftist leader Evo Morales are demanding the vote be held on Sept. 6. The standoff threatens to convulse the landlocked country and revive memories of last year's deadly clashes following a disputed election that led to the resignation of Morales, dozens of people being killed and buildings being set on fire.

Local media reports that protest blockades are affecting oxygen supplies to hospitals. Video provided by the Caja Petrolera Clinic in La Paz reportedly shows hospital equipment for patients running low on oxygen. Local reports put the number of deaths in hospitals allegedly as a result of a lack of oxygen at 33.

The election is being fought between Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS) party and a fragmented conservative opposition, including interim President Jeanine Anez, who took over in a power vacuum last year promising swift new election.

Morales, currently in Argentina, has criticised the interim government, which he accuses of leading a coup, and encouraged mobilisations to protest against the election delay. The protesters, mostly in rural areas, have blocked access to some main cities using stones, rubble and earth.

Clashes in Bolivia as local groups break protester, opposing to delay in presidential election

Cochabamba, Bolivia: Clashes broke out in Cochabamba on Sunday as local groups sought to break road blockades set up by leftist groups protesting a delay in presidential elections.

Firing projectiles, the locals confronted members of the Bolivian Workers Center (COB) and other leftist groups that have set up road blockades across Bolivia in recent days opposing a delay to the country's presidential election as tensions mount over the vote that will decide the country's political future. The vote, a re-run of a fraught election last year that sparked violent protests leading to the downfall of long-term leftist leader Evo Morales, is a tussle between the country's socialist party and a fragmented conservative flank.

Morales, exerting his political influence from exile in Argentina, has called for the election to be held on Sept. 6 as previously planned. The electoral tribunal postponed the date because coronavirus infections are expected to peak in coming months.

The COB said the interim government led by presidential candidate Jeanine Añez had used the pandemic to extend power and persecute supporters of Morales' Movement for Socialism. Bolivia has recorded over 89,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with over 3,500 deaths.

Belarus: Media on police target, arrest DW correspondent Alexander Burakov before vote

Belarus: Freelance journalist Alexander Burakov, who reports from Belarus for DW's Russian-language service, was preparing to :celebrate his 46th birthday with his family on Thursday. Instead, he ended up in a temporary detention cell after being arrested twice by the police in his hometown, Mogilyov, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of the capital, Minsk.

Burakov was stopped by the police Wednesday evening on suspicion of "transporting counterfeit alcohol," he told the nongovernmental human rights center Viasna. After police inspected Burakov's car without finding anything, officers suggested that the vehicle, which he has owned since 2013, had been stolen and the car's identification number might have been faked. As a result, the journalist was taken to the local police station.


A few hours later, Burakov was released — only to be arrested again a few steps from the police station. Boris Vyrvich, the head of the local branch of the Belarusian Association of Journalists in Mogilyov, told DW that, according to witnesses, Burakov had argued with an unidentified woman in front of the police station and screamed out: "It's a provocation." After that, he was seized.

It was Burakov's second arrest in the past two months. He was previously seized on May 8 and sentenced to 10 days in a temporary detention facility. DW attempted to contact Burakov several times in vain on Thursday: His mobile phone had been switched off.

Burakov had expected that he would be detained. A few days before his arrest, he told DW that he was worried about possible efforts by the authorities to prevent independent journalists from covering the presidential election.


DW condemned Burakov's arrest and called on the authorities to ensure the freedom of press in Belarus. "The intimidation efforts against our correspondent Burakov demonstrate in all clarity the difficult situation for journalists in Belarus," Manuela Kasper-Claridge, DW's editor-in-chief, said in a statement released Thursday.

Burakov has become the latest reporter arrested in the government's clampdown on journalists and bloggers. Rights observers contacted by DW said the targeting of journalists was closely connected to Sunday's presidential election.

"Journalists are being prosecuted, hindered from their work and even arrested," Kasper-Claridge said. "This is not acceptable and is to be condemned in the strongest terms. I appeal to the officials in Belarus to finally pay attention to press freedom and let journalists work unhindered."


The Belarusian Association of Journalists has counted more than 100 cases of prosecution of members of the press across the country since January. Eighty percent of them happened after the start of the presidential campaign in early May, association head Andrey Bastunets told reporters on Thursday. He said authorities clearly wanted to prevent independent observers and journalists from covering the election.

The international media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders called on authorities in Belarus to ensure that independent coverage would remain permitted, and to address the persecution of journalists by the police. Foreign journalists have also been prevented from working freely, the group reports, "at the order of President Alexander Lukashenko." (courtesy:dw)

Myanmar Election: Aung San Suu Kyi confirms contesting for second term

Yangon: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, August 4 formally declared her intention to seek a second term in an election in November that is seen as a test of the Southeast Asian nation's tentative democratic reforms.

After decades of military rule, Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy, took the reins in 2016 after an electoral landslide, but has been forced to share power with the generals.

Her international reputation slumped over Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya Muslims but she remains popular at home, where her image is undented by accusations of complicity in atrocities against the minority.

On Tuesday (August 4), Suu Kyi, 75, waved to a crowd of around 50 supporters on the outskirts of the former capital Yangon to submit an application to run as a candidate. Some of her supporters wore red-coloured face masks denoting their backing for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party and shouted: "Mother Suu, be healthy."

Belarus opposition rally draws thousands ahead of presidential election

Minsk, Belarus: Tens of thousand rallied in the Belarus capital on Thursday, July 30 in support of opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya. The 37-year-old is leading the strongest challenge in years to President Alexander Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm boss who has brooked little opposition in his 26-year rule of the eastern European country.

Supporters cheered and waved flags as Tikhanouskaya addressed the crowd. "I am not a politician and I do not need (political) power. But my husband is in jail. I had to hide my children for their safety. I sacrificed a peaceful life for all of our sakes. I am tired of being patient. I am tired of being silent. I am tired of being afraid," she said. The opposition candidate on Thursday denied allegations that she or her jailed husband had ties to an alleged plot by Russian mercenaries to destabilise Belarus ahead of a presidential election.

Belarusian authorities say they have launched a criminal case against her husband Syarhei Tsikhanouski on suspicion of inciting riots and state-run media suggested he was part of a plot to sow instability. Tikhanouskaya launched her candidacy in place of her husband, a popular blogger who was detained in May. She was originally reluctant to run after receiving an anonymous threat to have her children taken away from her if she did.

But in recent days she has gathered crowds of thousands of people, amid swelling anger against Lukashenko over his hands-off handling of the coronavirus pandemic and grievances over the economy and human rights. Lukashenko has allowed little dissent in over a quarter of a century in power in the country of 9.5 million between Russia and European Union member state Poland.

The 65 year old president is expected to win the election despite growing opposition. He portrays himself as a guarantor of economic and political stability.