Belarus opposition held after Lukashenko landslide
MINSK (Reuters) - At least seven election candidates and hundreds of opposition demonstrators were being held on Monday after police cracked down on a protest against the re-election of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
After a night of mayhem in central Minsk involving riot police and thousands of demonstrators, the central election commission declared in the early hours that Lukashenko, in power since 1994, had secured nearly 80 percent of the vote.
Opposition parties say supporters of the 56-year-old former Soviet state farm director had rigged his re-election at the vote counting stages, much as they had in 2006.
Police, in an official Interior Ministry statement, justified their action, saying protesters had tried to seize the main government building by storm.
All eyes were now on the verdict of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which fielded a small army of observers across the country of 10 million.
The OSCE, whose judgement on the fairness of the election is seen as key to possible European Union financial aid for the ex-Soviet republic, was scheduled to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. (12 p.m. British time). Lukashenko himself was also due to hold a news conference later in the day.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton criticised the violence and called for the authorities to release those arrested, echoing similar comments from Poland. "We are now waiting for the OSCE preliminary report to assess the conduct of the elections," her office said in a statement.
One OSCE observer from neighbouring Poland said the watchdog would probably deliver a critical verdict.
"The OSCE will mention some improvements... but let's face it, a country where blood is spilt during demonstrations is not nearing democratic standards," said Pawel Poncyliusz, a Polish lawmaker. "I expect the opinion to be negative," he told Polish TVN 24 broadcaster from Minsk.
Berlin also expressed its worries about the vote. "Many things show that it did not meet international standards for free and fair elections," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news briefing.
However, a parallel observer mission from the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States gave the election a clean bill of health. "The mission did not find any facts that put under doubt the legitimacy of the elections," mission chief Sergei Lebedev told journalists. He said the police had acted correctly and lawfully.
In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the election was an "internal matter" for Belarus and he did not comment on the police crackdown.
On Sunday night up to 10,000 people marched through the snow-bound capital chanting "Out!," "Long Live Belarus!" and other anti-Lukashenko slogans in one of the most significant challenges to his iron-fisted, 16-year rule.
Then riot police waded in, beating people with batons on Independence Square. Some protesters in the ex-Soviet republic threw stones and snowballs at police.
THREAT OF JAIL
During the protests several people were left sprawled on the ground, including an elderly woman who had been hit on the head. Others were bundled into police cars.
One opposition leader, Vladimir Neklyayev, was beaten by police who fired into the air to disperse a column of supporters trying to join the main rally. His wife said he was later taken by police from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from head injuries.
Police were detaining Neklyayev, 56-year-old Andrei Sannikov and at least five other candidates against Lukashenko, the pro-rights Vyasna (Spring) website and opposition aides said.
"I don't think the authorities should beat their own people. They must be really afraid," said Olga, in her twenties, who witnessed the violence.
An official in the state prosecutor's office said some of the protest leaders could be charged with organising mass unrest and could face up to 15 years in jail.
An Interior Ministry statement, focussing on an attempt by some demonstrators to break down the door of a government building, said: "A peaceful meeting grew into an attempt to seize the building of the Council of Ministers by storm."
It said many demonstrators had been drunk and the police had later recovered wooden sticks, metal bars and empty bottles.
Belarus's tightly-controlled media went into overdrive.
Early morning Belarussian TV said police had found an opposition vehicle filled with explosives which, if it had been detonated on Independence Square, would have caused "a tragedy."
It interviewed a policeman, nursing an arm wound in hospital -- one of many police who had been injured in the clashes. Protesters, it said, had tried to launch a "pogrom."
The EU is watching closely, weighing how far to engage with the country of 10 million on its eastern flank, amid tension between Lukashenko and chief benefactor Russia.
Lukashenko crushed dissent in the early years of his rule, jailing opponents and muzzling the media. The administration of former U.S. President George Bush called him Europe's "last dictator."
CHALLENGE TO LUKASHENKO
One opposition figure told protesters on October Square that, according to an unofficial opposition exit poll, Lukashenko won only 30.7 percent against Neklyayev's 18 percent. He called for a second round of voting.
An aide to nationalist candidate Grigory Kostusev said the 53-year-old had been stopped in his car and arrested.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said demonstrators sought to restrain young people who were trying to break the glass doors of the government building.
During Lukashenko rule Belarus's command economy has been propped up by energy subsidies from Russia. The country serves as a buffer between Russia and NATO and a transit route for Russian gas heading to Europe.
But relations with Moscow have been on the rocks in recent years and the EU has dangled the prospect of financial aid if Sunday's vote is deemed fair.
(Writing by Richard Balmforth and Matt Robinson; additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Warsaw, Luke Baker in Brussels, Brian Rohan in Berlin and Denis Dyomkin in Moscow; editing by David Stamp)