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A30 world news
Dialuna 26 OctOber 2020

Thousands protest as Belarus leader faces demands deadline

(AP) — Tens of thousands despite the crackdown and showed the Belarusians that
of protesters in Belarus police threatening to open violence is the only thing it is
swarmed the streets of the fire on the demonstrators. capable of,” she said.
capital Sunday, pressing Tsikhanouskaya's calls for a
for the resignation of the Tsikhanouskaya, who is cur- strike fueled the protest and
country's authoritarian rently in exile in Lithuania turned up the pressure on
president, and an opposi- after leaving the country in Lukashenko, commentators
tion leader said a nation- fear for her safety, threatened said.
wide strike would start to call a nationwide strike for
Monday. Monday unless Lukashenko “The sharp increase of the
announced his resignation, number of protesters was big
Over 200,000 people took released political prisoners news for Lukashenko, who
part in the largest demonstra- and stopped the crackdown has ramped up repressions
tion in Minsk since late Au- on protesters before then. in recent months, threat-
gust, the Viasna human rights “The People's Ultimatum,” ened and intimidated in an
center said. They carried red had over 200 names by Sun- as Tsikhanouskaya dubbed attempt to quell the wave of
and white flags and marched day evening. The post-election rallies have her demands, was the theme the protests,” Ales Bialiatski,
while chanting “Go away!” posed a major challenge to of Sunday's rally. In a state- director of the Viasna human
and “New election!,” refer- In Minsk, police used stun Lukashenko, who has run ment from Vilnius, Tsikha- rights center, said.
ences to a disputed presiden- grenades to disperse the the country for 26 years and nouskaya expressed support
tial vote that returned crowds. Belarusian media relentlessly suppressed op- for the protesters in Belarus Political analyst Alexander
President Alexander Lukash- reported that several people position and independent and said the deadline for au- Klaskousky echoed his senti-
enko to a sixth term and trig- sustained injuries. media. Early on, authorities thorities expires at 11:59 p.m. ment, calling Tsikhanouska-
gered almost daily protests. tried to quell the unrest with (2059 GMT) on Sunday. ya's ultimatum an attempt to
Mass protests have rocked mass detentions and police “If the demands are not met, rally “every one of those who
Several subway stations were Belarus for over two months, dispersing crowds with trun- Belarusians will start the na- didn't vote for Lukashenko,
closed, mobile internet was ever since the official results cheons, stun grenades and tional strike,” Tsikhanous- which comprise the majority
not working, and water can- of the Aug. 9 election gave water cannons. kaya said. of the country.”
nons and armored vehicles Lukashenko a landslide vic- In another statement later in
were seen in the center of tory with 80% of the vote. According to human rights the day, Tsikhanouskaya con- “Even if the threat of a strike
Minsk. Rallies also took place His main challenger, Sviatla- advocates, some 15,000 peo- demned the use of stun gre- does not work, it will make
in other cities in Belarus, na Tsikhanouskaya, got only ple have been detained in nades against the protesters the authorities very nervous,
and police detained scores 10% of the votes and refused Belarus since the election, in Minsk and said the strike because the opposition is
of people across the country. the recognize the outcome as and over 100 of them were would begin on Monday. clearly trying to take steps
A list of detained protesters valid, saying it was manipu- declared political prisoners. towards dual power in the
released by the Viasna center lated. But the protests continued “The regime has once again country," Klaskousky said.

Blast kills 3 in Pakistan city hosting opposition rally

(AP) — An explosive de- Sunday afternoon in a veg- quat Shahwani, spokesman
vice killed at least three etable market that had largely for the Baluchistan govern-
people on Sunday in the closed for the day, said Azhar ment. He said the opposition
capital of southwestern Akram, a senior police officer parties had been warned of
Pakistan's restive Balu- in Quetta. the risk of violence.
chistan province, despite Baluchistan province is
heightened security as op- The market was several kilo- famed for its gas and min-
position political parties meters (miles) from where eral wealth, and for decades,
held a large open-air rally the political rally was tak- a low-level insurgency by
in another part of the city, ing place. Local TV footage armed groups has demanded
local police said. showed several vehicles on more autonomy and a greater
fire following the blast, and share in the region’s resourc-
The top leaders of an alliance Akram said explosive experts es. Islamist militants also op-
of Pakistan’s major opposi- were examining the scene. erate in the region.
tion parties have held rallies
in two other cities this month Cell phone service in Quetta Earlier this month, militants
as part of a campaign to oust had been suspended as a se- in Baluchistan killed 15 peo-
the government of Prime curity precaution ahead of ple when they ambushed a
Minister Imran Khan over crisis. No one immediately Two people were also wound- Sunday's rally, and additional convoy of Pakistani oil and
his alleged failure in han- claimed responsibility for the ed when the bomb, planted security forces were deployed gas workers escorted by para-
dling the country’s economic attack. in a motorcycle, detonated to the patrol the city, said Lia- military troops.

Israel to begin human trials of coronavirus vaccine

(AP) — The state-run Israel Institute for The institute is run by the Defense Ministry.
Biological Research announced Sunday that “I believe in the abilities of our scientists and I am “This is a day of hope for the citizens of Israel,”
researchers will begin human testing on its confident that we can produce a safe and effective said Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
coronavirus vaccine next week. vaccine,” said Dr. Shmuel Shapira, director of the
institute. Over 40 coronavirus vaccine candidates are in
The institute said clinical tests on an initial group clinical trials worldwide, according to the World
of 80 people would begin Nov. 1. The testing He said the goal is to produce 15 million doses Health Organization.
is to expand to a second phase of 960 people in “for the benefit of the residents of the state of Is-
December, with a third and final phase of 30,000 rael and our close neighbors.” He did not elabo- Israel, a country of about 9 million people, has
people next April or May depending on the re- rate. reported over 300,000 cases of COVID-19 and
sults of the earlier phases. nearly 2,400 deaths.