Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko declared on Tuesday he would "strike hard" to suppress any further protests against policies aimed at pulling the ex-Soviet country out of economic crisis. Lukashenko spoke after fresh signs of unrest by Belarussians over the crisis which has led to a 36 percent devaluation of the rouble, devouring the value of savings, and soaring inflation.
Calls are multiplying on social networking sites for public protests and motorists last week rallied in the centre of Minsk in protest at a sharp rise in the price of gasoline - unusual for Belarus where people normally show little appetite for street demonstrations.
In the latest protest this weekend, scores of people rallied on the border with Poland, blocking a crossing point, before being dispersed forcibly by police. They were protesting against restrictions on the quantity of gasoline and other goods they could take out.
Lukashenko, who has ruled the country for 16 years but whose authority is being hurt by the crisis, warned he was ready to crack down hard on any more unrest. "They are organising strikes because we do not allow them to take fuel, cigarettes and other goods out of the country without charge," he said, in comments reported by the state news agency BelTA.
"These people used to be called speculators. And they are speculators. And I am supposed to just look at that?," he said during a district tour outside the capital. Referring to calls on the Internet for public protests, Lukashenko went on: "We have the opposition in Minsk on social networks. They use the Internet to call for strikes. I will look, watch and then I will strike hard so that they will not get a chance to defect abroad."
Though Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term in power last December sparked huge street protests, public dissent is relatively rare in Belarus. Lukashenko has not shrunk from cracking down hard on opponents and several of the presidential candidates who ran against him last December have received jail terms.
On Tuesday, the trial opened against the Belarus correspondent of a Polish newspaper on charges of slandering and insulting Lukashenko in articles he wrote. Andrzej Poczobut, who wrote for the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, could face four years in jail if convicted.
One opposition video placed on the Internet under the slogan "Conquer your fear: become a hero" is urging opponents of Lukashenko to demonstrate in the capital and launch a national strike from July 3. Belarussian trade unions, which have traditionally been loyal to Lukashenko, have warned that rising prices are leading to a greater mood of protest in the country.
The Minsk government is looking for bail-out loans from big neighbour Russia and from the International Monetary Fund to help it through a crisis which many analysts attribute to public over-spending ahead of the December election. Struggling to plug a yawning balance-of-payments deficit, the government devalued the national currency, the rouble, by 36 percent.
It has also imposed a freeze on the price of core foodstuffs, but people are still buying what staples they can to hoard. The weekend protest on the border involved people who sought to drive consignments of goods, including gasoline, out of the country to sell them at a profit in Poland.
Minsk can expect to receive $1.2 billion in loans from a Russia-led bailout fund this year but it also needs IMF support of between $3-8 billion dollars. The IMF, ending a two-week mission to Minsk on Monday, gave only lukewarm support for government anti-crisis policies and urged it to let the rouble float freely, freeze wages and raise interest rates to hold more money within the banking system.
Delivery of IMF aid is complicated by Lukashenko's poor image in the West since his December re-election. Police rounded up hundreds of people, including several presidential candidates, who denounced the vote as fraudulent. Western monitors also criticised the ballot and the United States and the European Union have since introduced travel bans against Lukashenko and his inner circle of associates.