MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) The nationwide strike that was announced by the Belarusian opposition did not and could not succeed, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said Tuesday.
"The plan that was being widely announced failed, naturally. People want to work, to make money, to carry out their plans. They want their families to get income. So the situation is completely calm," Golovchenko said, as quoted by the official news agency Belta.
The prime minister said that he would not overestimate the danger of calls for strike, but warned those who were making such calls that they were "directly calling for harming the country and the people who live and work in the country."
Belarus saw mass protests shortly after the presidential election, which was held on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent Alexander Lukashenko secured 80.1 percent of the vote, but the opposition believes that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya won.
Protests have continued to this day. The opposition said that it would organize a nationwide strike if its demands were not met by October 25. The demands include Lukashenko's resignation, release of all people detained for political reasons, and no more "violence" on part of the law enforcement toward protesters.
