Lukashenko rules out dialogue with oppn protesters

In an apparent bid to win time, the Belarusian leader has alternated pressure and threats against protesters with promises of a constitutional reform that could see a new election down the road.

Speaking at a meeting with officials on Thursday, President Alexander Lukashenko said he would welcome discussions on constitutional changes with representatives of factory workers, farmers and students, but ruled out talks with protesters whom he described as “violent thugs who roam the streets and shout that they want a dialogue.”

Belarus' authoritarian president of 26 years, Alexander Lukashenko, is facing weeks of protests against his reelection to a sixth term in the Aug. 9 vote, which the opposition says was rigged.

The leader, who has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist since 1994, has dismissed the protesters as Western puppets and refused to engage in dialogue with the opposition, which is contesting his reelection to a sixth term.

Belarusian courts this week have handed 10-day jail sentences to two council members and summoned several others for questioning, including Svetlana Alexievich, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature.