RIGA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins has said that he is going to call an extraordinary government meeting next Monday to discuss the situation in protest-hit Belarus.
Belarus will take center stage at the EU's foreign ministers meeting on August 14. The bloc has not ruled out slapping sanctions on the country to hold its authorities responsible for "violence, unjustified arrests, and falsification of election results." The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Germany have already thrown support behind the sanctions.
"On Monday at 10:00 a.m. [7:00 GMT], I am calling an extraordinary cabinet meeting on the situation in Belarus. We will hear a report of Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics and decide on further actions," Karins wrote on Twitter.
The prime minister noted that Latvia supports the desire of the Belarusian society to live in a free and democratic country.
Unsanctioned mass protests have been ongoing in Belarus since the late hours of Sunday, when the first election results showed incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko secure his sixth term with over 80 percent of the vote, and the opposition challenged the outcome.
The unrest has grown increasingly violent, with one confirmed fatality. Protesters attempted to hurl Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers. The police respond with tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades and detentions. The Belarusian authorities say that professional instigators are coordinating the unrest by managing the crowd and urging people to act.
