People in Minsk in various places formed human “chains of solidarity” in support of the ultimatum that the opposition gave to President Alexander Lukashenko until Sunday, when he was due to resign.
“Many shops, cafes and restaurants in the center of Minsk are closed. Hundreds of university students took to the streets of the metropolis for applauding and chanting, cars passing by trumpeting at them in support, “Reuters reported in the afternoon.
Workers from large chemical plants in Grodno and the Minsk companies MZKT and MZT refused to start work. However, the police came to these companies and arrested an unspecified number of workers, the Belorusskij partizan server said. According to the portal, people send pictures of empty workshops to social networks and claim that employees have not started working. “Of course, this information needs to be verified, but it is clear that many have heard the ultimatum and the call to strike,” the opposition server wrote.
According to the Russian agency TASS, the state concern Belněftěchim assured that Azot Grodno and other companies of the group function normally. Likewise, reports of a strike were denied by the Minsk plant for the production of MTZ tractors.
“All production plants are operating normally as of 10 o’clock in the morning. The production did not stop, “assured the spokesman of the Belarusian Prime Minister. “We have no information about strikes, large companies are operating normally,” the Ministry of Industry said.
Hundreds of smaller companies and shops, according to the Tut.by server, gave their employees time off on Monday. Some companies have done so because of possible difficulties, others as a sign of solidarity.
