Germany Sided with Protesters in Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko should "recognize the true situation," a spokesman for the FRG government said. The Belarusian ambassador to Berlin has been summoned to the German Foreign Ministry. The German government expressed support for the protesters in Belarus. Berlin "unequivocally takes the side of the people in Belarus striving for freedom, democracy and political change," on Monday, August 31, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. He called “really impressive” “the courage of many thousands of people” who “even three weeks after the presidential elections do not allow themselves being intimidated by incessant repressions” by Alexander Lukashenko and “his special forces”. It is time for Lukashenko to "acknowledge the true situation," Seibert continued. He noted that Belarus needs an open dialogue with the participation of the country's leadership, opposition forces and the entire Belarusian society, thus the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is ready to play the role of a mediator in such a dialogue. Belarusian Ambassador to Berlin summoned to the German Foreign Ministry On August 31, the Belarusian ambassador to Berlin was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry to protest against the brutal actions of law enforcement officers against journalists, including German ones, the dpa agency notes, committed during the protests. Deputy Press Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry Christopher Burger said that on August 21 and 22 in Belarus, a number of media representatives "were detained in an arbitrary manner and without any legal basis." For several weeks now, do not stop protests and strikes that began after the presidential elections on 9 August in Belarus. According to the CEC, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won with 80 percent of the vote, while his main opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya did not recognise the official election results. Only within first days, according to official data, almost 7,000 people were detained, two people died. Immediately after the elections, the Internet was actually blocked in Belarus, and the security forces displayed unprecedented cruelty dispersing the demonstrators.