Rus-bela

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Tens of thousands of Belarusians have gathered in Minsk for the biggest protest in the country’s history (biểu tình lớn nhất trong lịch sử nước này), as an extraordinary week of rising sentiment comes to a close.

Seven days after the country’s authoritarian ruler (nhà cai trị độc tài), Alexander Lukashenko, claimed to have secured 80% of the vote in a presidential election (cuộc bầu cử tổng thống), his legitimacy (tính chính danh) is in tatters (tơi tả) and his regime (chế độ) faces (đối mặt với) its biggest crisis (cuộc khủng hoảng lớn nhất) since he came to power (nắm quyền lực) 26 years ago. The mood at Sunday’s rally (cuộc biểu tình, tụ tập, đám đông) was stoked further by egregious (quá xá, đại, chí) police violence (cảnh sát sử dụng bạo lực) against thousands of protesters (người biểu tình) earlier in the week.

After Lukashenko called his own rally in Independence Square, the anti-government (chống chính phủ) protesters instead converged (tụ tập) on a second world war monument (tượng đài thế chiến ii) in another part of the city. The carnival atmosphere (không khí lễ hội carnival) of the last three days continued, as people cheered (reo hò, ca hát), passing cars beeped their horns (ô tô đi qua bấm còi), and chants (hát, reo vang) of “Resign!” rang out.

Maria Kolesnikova, one of a trio of female opposition (đối lập) leaders including presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, told a small part of the crowd through a portable speaker (loa cầm tay) that she was appealing to Belarusian law enforcement officials and diplomats: “This is your last chance to fight your fear. We were all scared too. Join us and we will support you.”

The protest (biểu tình phản đối) came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told Lukashenko in a phone call on Sunday that Moscow stood ready to provide help (sẵn sàng ứng cứu) in accordance with a collective military pact (hiệp ước quân sự tập thể) if necessary.