EU Condemns Belarus President’s Inauguration Amid Violence

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – The European Union said Thursday it doesn’t recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the President of Belarus after being sworn in for a sixth term during a secret ceremony.

Lukashenko’s inauguration added fuel to ongoing protests against his autocratic rule. Police forces used water cannon to end massive street protests against Lukashenko.

In Minsk, the capital, security forces pursued, detained, and beat demonstrators. At least one young man managed to escape violent police.

Video footage seen by Worthy News showed him jumping in a taxi near the train station in Minsk. Police attacked the cab, but the driver managed to speed away across pavement and grass.

CONTROVERSIAL CEREMONY

These latest rallies broke out after the unannounced presidential inauguration ceremony attended by several hundred dignitaries.

The 66-year old President Lukashenko tried to appear confident as he entered the main room at the ornate Palace of Independence in Minsk.

Here he took the oath of office in Belarusian with his right hand on the constitution. The head of the Central Election Commission handed him the official Identity card of the President of Belarus.

“The day of assuming the post of the president is the day of our victory, convincing and fateful,” Lukashenko told spectators. “We were not just electing the president of the country — we were defending our values, our peaceful life, sovereignty, and independence.”

He began his presidential term despite mounting doubts about the August 9 presidential poll’s fairness.

TINY HOPE

Lukashenko’s main rival Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is convinced that she won the recent election. “We had a lot of observers at every polling station. And we saw that the majority voted for me,” she said, speaking in English.

The 37-year-old former teacher and translator with no political experience registered as a presidential candidate after her husband, a popular online activist, was jailed.

“Till the end, there was a tiny hope that they will count [the ballots] honestly,” Tsikhanouskaya recalled. “But [that hope] was so tiny that it just disappeared.”

The EU shares her views and has threatened more sanctions against Lukashenko to pressure him to allow a new round of free and fair elections.

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