Survey: 1 in 4 Connecticut nursing home residents had COVID-19

People in nursing homes make up roughly 60% of coronavirus deaths in Connecticut, researchers report. 

NATIONALIZE ELDER CARE UNDER MEDICARE 

NO PRIVATE NURSING HOMES OR PRIVATIZED CARE GIVERS

By HealthDay News

Photo by Sabine van Erp/Pixabay

When COVID-19 was raging in the Northeastern United States, more than 25% of Connecticut nursing-home residents were suffering from the coronavirus, a new survey reports.

Nursing homes are very susceptible to the pandemic because the patients are elderly, living in close quarters and often have other medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19, Yale School of Public Health researchers said.

Their survey found that 28% of 2,117 people tested in 33 nursing homes were infected with the virus. Testing was completed by mid-June.

"Nursing homes have been the epicenter of the disease in Connecticut, and much of the U.S. and Europe," said lead author Dr. Sunil Parikh, an associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Yale.

RELATED Universal COVID-19 testing in nursing homes may limit transmission


"Without widespread testing of all residents, it would have been impossible to effectively institute proper infection control measures, such as isolating infected, uninfected and exposed residents from one another," Parikh said in a university news release.

People in nursing homes make up more than 60% of the COVID-19 deaths in the state, the researchers said.

Among 601 infected people, about 90% had no symptoms of the disease. Only a small number of them went on to develop symptoms, Parikh's team found.

RELATED Dementia gene might increase risk for serious COVID-19, study says

"This study also shows how quickly the virus can take hold in congregate settings, as the majority of nursing homes had over half of their residents test positive within a month of identifying their first case, despite standard infection prevention measures at the time," Parikh said. "Clearly, PPE and testing shortages, coupled with a symptom-based testing strategy, made it difficult to get a handle on these outbreaks early on."

The researchers also found:
Infections rates of at least 50% in 19 nursing homes.
Of 530 asymptomatic nursing home patients, 12% developed symptoms within 14 days.
Only three of the tested nursing homes had no positive cases.

"What we need to figure out now is the optimal frequency for repeat surveys of both residents and staff moving forward. Cases in nursing homes have now dramatically dropped, and we also need to rigorously assess the impact of point prevalence surveys on curtailing the outbreaks in these congregate settings," Parikh said.

RELATED Social isolation increases risk for COVID-19, other health problems, studies say

The findings were published in a research letter online recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information
For more on COVID-19, see the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
(0) Leave a comment
upi.com/7030735

Belarusian TV journalists replaced by Russian propagandists – ex-news director 

DON'T GIVE TRUMP IDEAS

19 August 2020 

 Tu-214P plane of Russia's FSB landed in Minsk amid ongoing protests. REUTERS

 Former director of the Belarusian TV Company Elena Martynovskaya has said Russia deployed two planes carrying propaganda teams to Minsk late on August 18. 

Martynovskaya says she was not allowed to her workplace this morning after being blacklisted by her management, along with other protest supporters from among TV channel's staff, TUT.BY reports. 

Read also Ukraine decries allegations of "special operation" to arrest Wagner PMC troops as "fake story"

 "At 09:00, my colleagues and I were approaching the building. There was a checkpoint, the police officers were there, and they asked where we were going. They said: 'Please, show your ID.' They looked at the name and said: 'Sorry, you can't pass, you're not on the list. We can't let you pass,'" she told TUT.BY. 

Martynovskaya also clarified who has replaced her on the job. "Oh yeah. That's a very interesting story. Two planes arrived from Russia, bringing employees who are now performing our functions for a very large pay. Here, in the Republic [of Belarus], we have no money to provide doctors with face masks, we raise funds all over the country, but we do have money for new news teams," she said. 

The Belarusian TV Company staff partially supported protests contesting election results. Since the outbreak of a new wave of opposition rallies, journalists started quitting the TV company, while other employees joined the main demands of protesters to hold another election. Earlier, it became known the Tu-214PU aircraft of Russia's FSB had landed in Minsk on Tuesday, August 18, amid protests across the country. 

Russia's "support" for Lukashenko Russia became one of the first countries to congratulate Lukashenko on his alleged win in the presidential elections in Belarus, while Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia made no such calls. Ukraine did not congratulate Lukashenko either. 

Later, the EU said the Belarus election had been rigged, and recognized Lukashenko persona non grata. In parallel lines, the West is preparing a package of sanctions against those involved in the violence and killings of protesters in the early days of unrest. 

At the same time, eyewitnesses spotted convoys of Russian Guard trucks heading toward Belarusian border. Also, several aircraft of the Belarus air force were spotted flying to Russian military bases. Both European diplomats and U.S. legislators, as well as political scientists, have expressed concerns about Russia's meddling in Belarus, with some warning of the unfolding of the "Crimea scenario".

STORIES ON BELARUS FROM UKRAINE NEWS SERVICE
Read more on UNIAN: 
https://www.unian.info/world/belarusian-protests-local-tv-newsmakers-replaced-by-russian-propagandists-ex-news-director-says-11117618.html

From Belarus to Lebanon, the US to Thailand, righteous moral outrage is sweeping the globe

Anger, it can seem, is everywhere. It spreads faster than ever. It is viral, but unlike coronavirus cannot be socially distanced into abeyance. Its roots are deep.
BY JEREMY CLIFFE 19 AUGUST 2020


GETTY
A protest against disputed presidential elections results in Minsk on 18 August 2020

Amid demonstrations over Belarus’s fraudulent election, President Alexander Lukashenko tried to bolster his position with a public appearance on 17 August. It did not go well. Travelling by helicopter to avoid protesters on the roads, the president visited what he considered an outpost in his political heartland: a state-owned tractor factory on the outskirts of Minsk. Even there he could not hide from the rage, as workers chanted “resign” until Lukashenko left the stage. Unthinkable until recent days, the scenes illustrated the scale of the public anger in Belarus over the electoral fraud and curtailment of rights.


We are living in an “age of anger”, the Indian writer Pankaj Mishra observes in a book of the same name. Consider the course of the long 2010s: starting with the financial crisis in 2008 and the political revolts it sparked; the Arab Spring uprisings and their descent into autocratic backlashes and even bloodbaths; the rise of nativists and their tribunes, the Erdogans, Modis and Trumps; the terror attacks, the state collapses, the refugee crises, the violence from Ukraine to Yemen, from Myanmar to Brazil, from ­social media newsfeeds to city squares.


Since Mishra’s book was published in 2017 the anger continues to spool forth. Last year saw an upsurge in street protests in Chile, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Algeria and Hong Kong, as well as the global Fridays for Future marches. These have continued this year – amid a pandemic that has exposed inequities and strained societies – in Bolivia, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Israel, in the ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong, Iraq and Russia and in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Daily protests fill the debris-strewn public spaces of Beirut over the fatal blast on 4 August and the misrule behind it. Belarus’s protests are the largest in its history. Thailand, too, is experiencing record demonstrations as a younger generation vents its rage at military and royal overreach.


Anger, it can seem, is everywhere. It spreads faster than ever, rippling across social media networks whose algorithms, which constantly push users towards rage-clicks, speed it on its way. It is viral, then, but unlike coronavirus cannot be socially distanced into abeyance. Its roots are deep. Mishra argues that they reach back to unresolved tensions within the Enlightenment, caused by that project’s insensitivity to what Sigmund Freud dubbed “primitive, savage and evil impulses of mankind”. Humans are subjective, emotional and tribal. They are individuals, yes, but also crowds; the mass protagonists of an age symbolised by fists in the air, police sirens and tear gas drifting across city squares.


In their recently published dialogue “Angrynomics” the economists Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth helpfully refine the picture. They differentiate between two forms of anger. On the one hand is primal, tribal rage, which can range from benign forms (sports fans yelling at a referee) to malign ones (social media pile-ons) and ones yet darker still: wraths stimulating desires to dominate, marginalise, and obliterate. This is anger serving what psychologists call the “minimal group paradigm”, humans’ psychosocial predisposition to form groups based on any distinctions available. On the other hand is moral outrage, the Aristo-telian anger at injustice that inspires movements for freedom and justice. This form of anger is in league, not in tension, with the unfinished (indeed, rather dilapidated) project of Enlightenment modernity.


Separating out the two can be tricky. Universalist moral outrage can spawn tribal anger, which in turn can create objects of moral outrage. Nor do crowds have to be tribal and exclusive: as the MP David Lammy notes in his book Tribes, “inclusive group identities” are the fount of belonging and collective organisation. Both forms of anger have intertwined throughout the 2010s, including within individual causes and movements, and continue to do so today.


It is notable that the anger expressed in the protests of 2019 and 2020 has largely been moral outrage: anger at leaders and other elites over economic injustice, racism, environmental degradation, ­authoritarianism or incompetence, or in many places (Hong Kong, Lebanon, Iran, Belarus, Thailand and the US among them) combinations of the above. These movements have often been leaderless, emerging organically from the citizenry rather than being summoned by figureheads. That makes them harder for authorities to decapitate; the Hong Kong protesters, for example, aim to “be water” – fluid, flexible and ungraspable. Such movements spread their messages on social media and organise through encrypted messaging apps, especially Telegram and WhatsApp. Often they encompass groups previously written off as apathetic: white middle-class Americans joining BLM protests; supposedly materialist, apolitical Gen Z-ers marching for the environment; peoples long cowed by numbing autocracy – Belarusians, Iranians, Thais and others – raising their voices.


We live, then, less in an age of anger than an age of angers; some base and brutish, others defensive and simmering, many a mixture of traits, and some – the factory workers chanting at Lukashenko in an act that would have had them arrested and even tortured days before – overwhelmingly in pursuit of noble ideals. And this is just the beginning.


The coming months alone, including the US election campaign, still-rising coronavirus death tolls and a global economic crisis, will stimulate anger in all of its forms. So expect more tribalism, demagoguery and petty hatreds. But also expect more righteous moral anger, expressed by brave citizens marching on the streets of the world’s cities and towns in a continuation of the wave that began in 2019. The long 2010s? We may already be well into the long 2020s.





Jeremy Cliffe is International Editor of the New Statesman.

Strike in Belarus by Potash Miners Pressures President, Clouds Commodity Market

State-owned mining company is key player in country’s economy and global fertilizer business Belarus Protests: Could Russia and the West Clash Again in Eastern Europe?

After more than a week of mass protests in Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said he was ready to share power. WSJ’s Ann Simmons reports on how the situation could heighten tensions between Russia and the West. Photo: Tatyana Zenkovich/Shutterstock, Nikolai Petrov/Associated Press

By 

Aug. 17, 2020 12:40 pm ET

Workers at the world’s largest miner of potash are joining widespread protests against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, intensifying pressure on the embattled leader and threatening to disturb the market for a key fertilizer.

JSC Belaruskali controls up to 20% of the global supply in potash, meaning any extended strike action or disruption at the company could impact prices of a commodity widely used by farmers to help plants grow. The state-owned mining company is also a pillar of Belarus’s economy and a major source...

WSJ PAYWALL

Belarusian potash producer to continue strikes, ore mining halted

More than 1,000 staff of the plant took part in the rally as joined by local teachers who came to support the miners

PHOTO 1 FROM 7https://tass.com/world/1191299






© Valery Sharifulin/TASS
READ ALSO

Belarus workers taking part in protests against election results

SOLIGORSK, August 19. /TASS/. Strikes at Belaruskali, one of the world’s biggest producers and exporters of potash fertilizers, will continue, while no decision on a hunger strike has been made, co-chairman of the strike committee at the Belarusian enterprise Anatoly Bokun told a rally on Wednesday.

"A decision was made to continue the strike until our demands are fulfilled. Meanwhile, we believe it is early now to declare a hunger strike," Bokun said.

READ ALSO

Thousands of tractor plant workers head to downtown Minsk after PM’s refusal to talk

The plant is not mining ore as the strike continues at most of its production facilities, the representative of the strike committee informed. "As far as I know, until recently, they have not brought ore to grass. The sylvinite concentrating factories of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd mining department are standing still. Only the factory of the 4th mining administration is operating."

However, he voiced concerns that "after pressure is exerted on the workers, production at some facilities could be launched." "They [the company’s management] are talking to every worker, intimidating them by threatening not to renew their contracts, as well to hold accountable for expressing their opinion," the representative of the strike committee said.

According to him, "people's moods are different, people are being bullied."

"People are scared, but I am firmly convinced that there are brave and courageous miners in our team who must defend not only the honor of the team, the city, but also the republic," Bokun said.

He recalled that the workers of Belaruskali demand declaring "[the president's] elections as invalid."

"The developments around the elections led to the situation when a person comes to their workplace but cannot perform the work with high quality and safety," the co-chairman of the Belaruskali strike committee said.

Bokun admitted that "with a decrease in the number of strikers, the strike goes beyond the legal framework of the strike." "We are losing our quorum," he said. 

In the near future, the strike committee will develop new approaches to holding strikes. "There is unconfirmed data that workers from other cities are heading to Soligorsk. Our hospitable city will be happy to have this support," he said. "We are waiting for and are expecting people’s support," he added.

More than 1,000 staff of Belaruskali took part in the rally. Citizens, including local teachers, came to support the miners. They asked the miners to unite and stand to the end. "Unless this happens, our children won’t have the future," one of the teachers said.

The rally’s participants decided to gather on the central square of Soligorsk late on Wednesday.

Belarus held the presidential election on August 9. According to the final data of the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won 80.10% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered as his key rival, garnered 10.12% of the vote. She did not recognize the outcome of the polls.

After the results of exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests flared up in downtown Minsk and other cities, which spiraled into clashes with police. The protests continued for several days and according to the Interior Ministry, over 6,000 people were detained while dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.

Belarusian leader orders police to put down protests
Andrei Makhovsky, Gabriela Baczynsk

MINSK/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered his police on Wednesday to put down protests in the capital Minsk, signalling an escalation after a week and a half of mass demonstrations against his rule.

Lukashenko’s order came even as European Union leaders were holding an emergency summit over the political crisis in Belarus, long Russia’s most loyal neighbour, which has heavily militarised borders with the EU.

EU leaders were expected to endorse sanctions on Belarusian officials they blame for election fraud following a dispute Aug. 9 election that the opposition said it won.

However, they were expected to steer clear of more dramatic steps that might provoke intervention from Moscow.

“There should no longer be any disorder in Minsk of any kind,” Lukashenko said in remarks reported by the official Belta news agency. “People are tired. People demand peace and quiet.”

He ordered the border to be tightened to prevent an influx of “fighters and arms”. Workers at state media who have quit in protest against the government’s policies would not be rehired, he said.

Western officials are trying to head off an escalation along the lines of the crisis in Ukraine six years ago, when a violent crackdown by a pro-Russian leader led to his downfall in a popular uprising, followed by a Russian military intervention and Europe’s deadliest ongoing conflict.

“Violence has to stop and a peaceful and inclusive dialogue has to be launched. The leadership of #Belarus must reflect the will of the people,” Charles Michel, the EU summit chairman, wrote in a tweet announcing the start of a video meeting.

Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky in Minsk, Maria Kiselyova and Rinat Sagdiev in Moscow, Yoruk Isik in Istanbul, Geert De Clercq in Paris and Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Writing by Matthias Williams and Peter Graff; Editing by Andrew Osborn, Philippa Fletcher and Jon Boyle

Belarusian leader tells interior ministry to end unrest in Minsk - Belta
MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday he had ordered the Interior Ministry to end the unrest in Minsk that erupted after a contested presidential election his opponents say was rigged, the Belta news agency reported.

Lukashenko also said that a group of state media workers who went on strike as part of the protests would not be allowed to return to their jobs.

He also ordered border authorities to step up security at the border to prevent the entry into the country of “fighters and arms”, Belta reported.


Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky and Polina Ivanova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Jon Boyle

In pictures: the latest from Belarus protests last updated: 19/08/2020

By Natalia Liubchenkova with AFP, AP

Protesters and police are seen in front of the Minsk Tractor Works Plant in Belarus. 

August 19, 2020 - Copyright SERGEI GAPON/AFP or licensorsProtests in Belarus have been taking place for 10 days, pressing for the resignation of longtime President Alexander Lukashenko. He has extended his 26-year rule in the latest election held on Sunday August 9, but the opposition says it was rigged.

The peaceful demonstrations met a harsh police crackdown, thousands were arrested.
The demonstrations are being followed by a widening strike in the country. The workers at state-controlled factories and plants, even actors and broadcasters have formed activists groups or simply walked off the job.
Lukashenko has refused to step down or to hold new elections.
These are the latest photographs from Belarus' ongoing protests.

Striking miners protest against disputed presidential election results in the mining city of Soligorsk, Belarus. August 19, 2020 Sergei Gapon/AFP

Protesters and police are seen in front of the Minsk Tractor Works Plant in Minsk, Belarus. August 19, 2020 Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo

People protest against disputed presidential elections results at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus. August 18, 2020 Sergei Gapon/AFP
 

A woman holds a poster showing a photo of a protester allegedly wounded by police and words reading “The future of our children is in your hands” during a rally in Minsk Sergei Grits/AP Photo

Minister of Culture passes a woman holding a banner reading “Art demands freedom” during a protest in support of the troupe that quit after the theatre’s director was firedDmitri Lovetsky/AP

People protest against disputed presidential elections results at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus. August 18, 2020 Sergei Gapon/AFP

A couple plays draughts during the protest against disputed presidential elections results at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus. August 18, 2020 Sergei Gapon/AFP

Workers of the Minsk Tractor Works Plant leave the plant after their work shift as activists with old Belarusian national flags greet them in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, Aug. 18Sergei Grits/AP Photo

girl walks holding a small old Belarusian national flag as activists greet and support workers leaving the Minsk Tractor Works Plant after their work shift in Minsk, Belarus Sergei Grits/AP Photo

Miners on strike in Salihorsk (Photos) Belarus

2020.08.19 10:03

On August 18, Belaruskali workers went on strike in Salihorsk. They demand new elections, the release of political prisoners and the resignation of those who had committed violence in the country. Maryia Kalesnikava, a representative of the United Headquarters, came to the protesters. Here’s our photo report

The head of the strike committee speaks to the workers.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Maryia Kalesnikava speaking to workers of Belaruskali on the central square in Salihorsk. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

A rally in support of Belaruskali workers at the central Salihorsk square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.

Belaruskali on Salihorsk’s central square. Miners, workers and people who care gathered together. August 18, 2020. Photo: Alyaksandr Vasyukovich / Vot-tak.tv / Belsat.eu.u

TASS.RU 
Lukashenko vows authorities will ‘deal with’ protest pressure at factory entrances
The Belarusian leader thanked workers who did not join the strikes

© Andrei Stasevich/Pool Photo via AP

MINSK, August 19. /TAS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has thanked workers who did not join the strikes and promised to "deal with" those protesters who wait for and converge on laborers at factory entrances.

READ ALSO Detentions reported during unauthorized rally near Minsk tractor plant

"Threats against and attacks on factory workers - that worries us too," he emphasized at a meeting of the Belarusian Security Council on Wednesday. "Before and after the working day, they have to pass through a corridor lined by aggressive crowds at entrances, [who are] just like the Gestapo. I just want to tell these workers that [I] express my gratitude to them and ask them not to bury their heads in the sand. You, workers, are the masters at this plant, and we will deal with those protesters who wait for you at the entrance," BelTA news agency quotes the president as saying.

Belarus held its presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission’s final data, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won 80.10% of the vote, whereas Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his key rival, garnered 10.12% of the ballot. Subsequently, she refused to recognize the outcome of the polls.

After the results of exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests flared up in downtown Minsk and other cities, which spiraled into clashes with police. The protests continued for several days and, according to the Interior Ministry, over 6,000 people ended up in custody.

Against this backdrop, workers at large enterprises have expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation and have held rallies demanding new elections and a probe into police actions. The opposition has been pushing factory workers to strike.

Lukashenko: Re-election out of question, power to be delegated only through constitution

When commenting on calls for strikes, the Belarusian president underscored that it was him who made sure that workers were not laid off at factories even when their number was excessive

17 AUG, 2020

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

READ ALSO

Tikhanovskaya vows ready to become national leader in Belarus

MINSK, August 17. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visited the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant to meet with workers amid reports of strikes, according to a TASS correspondent.

During his visit, Lukashenko received a report that plants in the country were mostly operating normally, according to the BelTA news agency.

he Belarusian president stated that no presidential re-election will take place in the country.

"You will not live to see the day I do anything under pressure. There will be no re-election. Because, in that case, there will be no MZKT [Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant], no MAZ [Minsk Automobile Plant] no BelAZ [the quarry truck plant]. Everything will be destroyed in half a year then," Lukashenko said, according to the BelTA news agency.

"You speak about unfair elections and want fair ones?" the president asked. "I have an answer for you. We had the elections. Unless you kill me, there will be no other elections."

Meanwhile the incumbent president vowed readiness to redistribute power through a constitutional process. "Of course, I will go away someday. In a year or two. But we can’t give up the constitution to some nobody. Because it will be a disaster. This is what I am afraid of the most," Lukashenko pointed out, as cited by the BelTA news agency.

Reiterating readiness to "share" powers, the incumbent head of state was clear though that this would never happen under pressure. "We need a new constitution. I’ve been proposed two variants, but rejected both of them, because they barely differ from the current one. The work on the third variant is underway. Come, let’s sit and work on the constitution and put it to a referendum. And I will relegate my powers to you by the constitution. But not under pressure and not through the streets," he said.

When commenting on calls for strikes, the Belarusian president said that "150 and even 200 people don’t set the tone at a plant." "The thing to understand is that the ‘bad’ president has maintained an excessive number of workers to make sure that no one is thrown on the street," Lukashenko noted. "Who wants to work, let them work. And as for those who don’t want to work, we can’t make them," the agency quoted him as saying.

Alexander Lukashenko stood firm saying that protests won’t bring him to his knees, according to an audio recording published by the Tut.by media outlet.

"I can see the way you intend to speak with the president," Lukashenko said. "No offense, but you won’t bring me to my knees. Don’t do anything that will, first and foremost, harm you and your families. You will see it in a week if you create chaos at the facility. Think about what I am saying today and what I told you yesterday. Listen, I have been through it all. I was a director [of a plant] and a common man, I know how it was done in the mid-1990s. Nothing like that will happen in our country," Lukashenko emphasized.

According to a TASS correspondent, the president’s helicopter later left the plant.

Meanwhile, several dozens people have gathered at the plant's gate. Some are holding posters demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. The gathering particularly involves Minsk Cable Networks employees. They expect workers from the Minsk Automobile Plant and the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant to join them. A man in civilian clothes addressed the gathering on behalf of law enforcement agencies and asked them to leave as they are taking part in an unauthorized activity. However, the people said they would not leave because they had the right to express their opinion.

Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to preliminary results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko received 80.1% of the vote while his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya garnered 10.12%. Protests erupted in the country's capital of Minsk and several other cities following the presidential vote, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, several thousand people were detained while dozens of police officers and demonstrators suffered injuries. Opposition leaders called for strikes to increase pressure on the authorities.

Thousands of tractor plant workers head to downtown Minsk after PM’s refusal to talk

They demand resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and new elections, a TASS onsite correspondent reported
14 AUG, 2020

© Natalia Fedosenko/TASS

MINSK, August 14. /TASS/. Several thousand workers of the Minsk Tractor Plant headed from its premises to downtown Minsk after Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko refused to talk to them, a TASS onsite correspondent reported.

A procession of demonstrators, chanting "Go away!" is marching down Independence Avenue. Passing by the Minsk Cogwheel Plant, they chant: "Join us!"

Earlier, the prime minister arrived at the tractor plant to meet with its workers but they demanded to talk to him outside by the plant’s front gate with journalists present. They demanded resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and new elections. Additionally, the workers demanded that "the troops are moved out of the city and all political prisoners are released with dismissal of all charges."

The Central Election Commission of Belarus on Friday published the final results of the presidential election which was held on August 9. According to the commission, the election was won by incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko with 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his closest rival, got 10.12% of the vote. Votes for other candidates were distributed as follows: Andrey Dmitriev - 1.21%, Anna Kanopatskaya - 1.68%, Sergey Cherechen - 1.14% and against all candidates - 4.59%.

Similar exit poll results were announced on Sunday after the election. Later mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other regions of the country, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement forces. Since Sunday, residents have been taking to the streets in the evenings. As a result, according to the republic’s Interior Ministry, over 6,000 people were detained and dozens of policemen and protesters were injured.

Belarusian factory workers hold mass rallies against violence

The developments include a number of major industrial enterprises, according to the Belarusian media resource Onliner

© Natalia Fedosenko/TASS
MINSK, August 14. /TASS/. Rallies and meetings of factory workers with the management are underway at a number of major industrial enterprises in Belarus, the main slogans being for fair elections and against violence, the Belarusian media resource Onliner reports.

READ ALSO

 Over 2,000 protesters released after detention in Belarus, Interior Ministry says

A large rally is in progress at the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant. There is no strike there at the moment. The plant keeps working as usual, Onliner says.

The Minsk Tractor Plant also saw a meeting between workers and the management. The plant’s CEO, his deputy and chief of the local trade union took part. Also, a rally and workers’ meeting with the management took place at the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant. A worker said it was a mutual initiative of the employees and the management.

A crowd of several thousand gathered on the premises of the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) for a meeting with the administration. One of the employees told Onliner the plant’s CEO promised to do his utmost to secure the release of detained MAZ workers and their relatives.

Several hundred, according to Onliner, rallied at the Grodno Azot fertilizer plant. All senior managers were present at the meeting with the workers.

Mass demonstrations, sometimes entailing clashes with the police, began in Belarusian cities in the evening of August 9 after the results of exit polls following the presidential election were announced. More protests followed throughout the next few days. There have been spontaneous rallies at industrial plants. According to police sources, several thousand people have been detained. Dozens of police and demonstrators have been injured. According to official returns, the incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, collected 80.1% of the votes, and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, regarded as his main rival, 10.12%. Tikhanovskaya said she did not recognize the results and lodged a protest with the Central Election Commission.

Thousands of tractor plant workers head to downtown Minsk after PM’s refusal to talk

They demand resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and new elections, a TASS onsite correspondent reported
14 AUG, 2020

© Natalia Fedosenko/TASS

MINSK, August 14. /TASS/. Several thousand workers of the Minsk Tractor Plant headed from its premises to downtown Minsk after Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko refused to talk to them, a TASS onsite correspondent reported.
A procession of demonstrators, chanting "Go away!" is marching down Independence Avenue. Passing by the Minsk Cogwheel Plant, they chant: "Join us!"

Earlier, the prime minister arrived at the tractor plant to meet with its workers but they demanded to talk to him outside by the plant’s front gate with journalists present. They demanded resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and new elections. Additionally, the workers demanded that "the troops are moved out of the city and all political prisoners are released with dismissal of all charges."

The Central Election Commission of Belarus on Friday published the final results of the presidential election which was held on August 9. According to the commission, the election was won by incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko with 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his closest rival, got 10.12% of the vote. Votes for other candidates were distributed as follows: Andrey Dmitriev - 1.21%, Anna Kanopatskaya - 1.68%, Sergey Cherechen - 1.14% and against all candidates - 4.59%.

Similar exit poll results were announced on Sunday after the election. Later mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other regions of the country, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement forces. Since Sunday, residents have been taking to the streets in the evenings. As a result, according to the republic’s Interior Ministry, over 6,000 people were detained and dozens of policemen and protesters were injured.

TASS

SUPPORT THE VICTIMS OF VIOLENT REPRESSION IN BELARUS !






The Solidarity Zone Foundation is raising funds to help victims of repressions in Belarus, in particular journalists. The assistance will be provided individually or through specialized local human rights organizations. The Foundation does not charge any fees or commissions on donations made.

BANK INFORMATION

Fundacja Strefa Solidarności
ul. Sękocińska 18/2, 02-313 Warsaw, Poland
Alior Bank SA, Łopuszańska 38D, 02-232 Warsaw, Poland
BIC/SWIFT: ALBPPLPW
Account number for deposits in Polish zlotys: PL 19 2490 0005 0000 4520 3480 9970
Account number for deposits in euros: PL 76 2490 0005 0000 4600 3119 1639
Account number for deposits in U.S. dollars: PL 06 2490 0005 0000 4600 6500 2249
Account number for deposits in pounds sterling: PL 60 2490 0005 0000 4600 5992 9341

UN condemns 'violent response' of Belarus government to protests 

 Police in Belarus say more than 6,000 arrested as protests over disputed election results continue.

19 Aug 2020 06:36 GMT | Belarus, Europe

The UN's human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has condemned the "violent response" of authorities in Belarus to protests across the country.

President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide re-election on August 9 in a vote his opponents say was rigged.

Several nights of demonstrations followed, with police firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and using tear gas on protesters while arresting thousands.

At least two protesters have died.

Volunteers are trying to help locate thousands of detainees.

President Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, has described those arrested as a criminal underclass. 

Last week, hundreds of women marched through Minsk to condemn the violence and called for fair elections.

Medical workers also lined the streets in opposition to the violence.

This video was produced and edited by Al Jazeera News Feed's Hassan Ghani.

Belarus president lacks democratic legitimacy, top EU diplomat says

MADRID (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko “lacks democractic legitimacy” after an election victory that is not recognized, top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

The EU intends to express “condemnation and rejection” of Lukashenko’s regime, Borrell told reporters in Santander, according to TV footage released by state broadcaster TVE.

The diplomat’s comments come as European Union leaders were holding an emergency summit expected to endorse sanctions on Belarussian officials over suspected election fraud and a subsequent crackdown on protesters.

Lukashenko, who has run Belarus for 26 years, is facing massive protests after winning 80% of the vote in elections that some sectors of the population believe were rigged.

Visegrad group presidents call on Belarus to stop violence, back free elections - joint statementPRAGUE (Reuters) - The presidents of the Visegrad Group including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia called on Belarus on Wednesday to avoid violence against protesters and open the way for a political solution to the ongoing crisis.

“(We) call on the authorities of the Republic of Belarus to open the way for the political solution, and to abide by the fundamental human rights and freedoms while refraining from the use of violence against the peaceful demonstrators,” the presidents said in a joint statement.

“We...support the right of the people of Belarus to free, fair and democratic presidential elections,” it said.

(This story corrects after Czech presidential office removed reference to new election)

Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Toby Chopra

Belarus leader: Ready to share power, but not under pressure

Lukashenko says work is already under way on possible changes to the constitution that could redistribute power.

17 Aug 2020

Lukashenko addresses his supporters gathered at Independent Square of Minsk on Sunday [Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo]

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he would be willing to share power and change the constitution, but that he was not prepared to do so under pressure from protesters, according to Belta news agency.

Lukashenko on Monday said work was already under way on possible changes to the constitution that could redistribute power, Belta reported.

The embattled leader made the remarks at a tractor plant in Minsk where he also told workers that there would be no new presidential election after a disputed August 9 vote.

"We held elections already. Until you kill me, there will be no other elections," he was quoted by the Tut.by media outlet as saying.

Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reporting from Minsk said that while Lukashenko says he wants to redistribute power after the constitution is changed, this is a long process which could take years.

"Many people here see that as efforts by him to buy time," Vaessen said.

However, the RIA news agency later reported him saying that a new election would be held after the country adopts a new constitution.

Nearly 5,000 workers from the Minsk Tractor Works plant, which has been on strike since Monday morning, marched down the streets, demanding that Lukashenko step down and cede his post to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the leading opposition candidate.

People protest near an MZKT plant - where heavy off-road vehicles are made - in Minsk [Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters]

It was the ninth consecutive day of protesting against the results of an election that extended his 26-year rule.

The official results of the August 9 vote gave Lukashenko 80 percent of the votes and Tikhanovskaya only 10 percent, but the opposition claimed the vote was rigged.

"Lukashenko is a former president, he needs to go," Sergei Dylevsky, the leader of the protest at the Minsk Tractor Works plant, told The The Associated Press news agency on Monday. "Sveta (Tikhanovskaya) is our president, legitimate and elected by the people."

Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher, entered the race after her husband - who planned to run himself - was jailed in Belarus. She managed to galvanise nationwide support, drawing tens of thousands to her campaign rallies.

Large-scale protests against the vote results continued even after she left the country for Lithuania last week, a move her campaign said was made under duress.

Workers from the Minsk Tractor Works Plant carry an old Belarusian national flag [Sergei Grits/AP]

Reporting outside of state media headquarters in Minsk, Vaessen said that 130 state media employees had walked out in the morning in protest, leaving an empty studio.

"They were joined here by other protesters who have now demanded the television station to tell the truth, stop lying and stop spreading propaganda. Later they were also joined by thousands of workers from strategic factories around the capital," Vaessen said.

"Some metal workers have also completely stopped working so the industry is not producing anything right now. This is really turning into a very serious headache for President Lukashenko who sees the pressure on him to resign only increasing."

On Monday workers heckled and jeered Lukashenko as he visited a factory and strikes grew across Belarus.

Lukashenko had flown by helicopter to a factory in the capital of Minsk to rally support, but he was met by angry workers chanting, "Go away!"

He told the workers that those who intend to strike could leave if they want, but said that the protests are ruining the economy and the country would collapse if he steps down.

"I will never cave in to pressure," Lukashenko said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko addresses workers of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant in Minsk, Belarus [Nikolai Petrov/AP]

Thousands of protesters again converged on the capital's main Independence Square in the evening.

"We don't want any new constitutions or referendums. We want Lukashenko's resignation," 45-year-old factory worker Dmitry Averkin told the AP news agency.

"The faster he steps down, the sooner the country comes back to normal life."

The protests have posed the biggest challenge yet to Lukashenko's iron-fisted rule of the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million.

Belarusian authorities initially tried to suppress the rallies, arresting almost 7,000 people in the first days of the protests.

Police moved aggressively, using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds, injuring scores of people.

However, as protests grew and the harsh crackdown drew criticism in the West, law enforcement refrained from interfering with the crowds and appeared all but absent during a rally on Sunday that attracted about 200,000 people.

People protest against presidential election results. The placard reads: "Long Live Belarus!" [Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters]

Tikhanovskaya said in a video statement on Monday she was ready to facilitate a rerun of the disputed election.

"I'm ready to take on the responsibility and act as a national leader in order for the country to calm down, return to its normal rhythm, in order for us to free all the political prisoners and prepare legislation and conditions for organising new presidential elections," she said.

Lukashenko bristled at the idea of talks with the opposition, insisting his government was the only legitimate one, and rejected the idea of repeating the election at a rally in his support on Sunday.

The embattled president told a crowd of 50,000 that the country would "perish as a state" otherwise, and denounced the protesters as stooges of foreign masterminds.


SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES