The Belarusian opposition again failed in its attempt to raise the country on strike
Calls by the curators of the Belarusian protests for a nationwide strike were unsuccessful.
Izvestia writes about this, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The publication notes that the telegram channel NEXTA, which coordinates the Belarusian Maidan workers from Poland, declared September 16 a day of solidarity and called on all residents of Belarus not to go to work in protest.
“Mainly representatives of small businesses responded to the call: the owners of cafes, small IT offices and private enterprises announced an extraordinary day off. However, a nationwide strike did not happen,” the publication writes.
In turn, Belarusian political scientist Evgeniy Preygerman told the newspaper that this kind of idea would no longer find support among workers, since “back in mid-August it looked promising, but then it quickly became clear that it would lead nowhere.”
He also believes that neither sanctions nor external pressure on Minsk in order to achieve the release of oppositionists arrested on charges of attempting a coup will not work.
“This already happened with oppositionist Nikolai Statkevich after the 2011 protests. Despite pressure from the West, Statkevich served five years and was released on parole only during the establishment of dialogue between Minsk and the EU,” the political scientist recalled.
Earlier, as PolitNavigator reported, Belarusian protest leaders complained that they were unable to rouse the country to a mass strike.
The Belarusian opposition has again failed to provoke the country into a strike.