Lukashenko praises police as West slams Belarus vote

President Lukashenko of Belarus has defended the police handling of opposition protests against his re-election.

He condemned what he called opposition “banditry”, and praised officers for standing firm against “barbarism and destruction”. There would be “no revolution” in Belarus, he said.

At another news conference in Minsk, there was a very different verdict. International monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe condemned police violence and said the vote was “flawed”.

“This election failed to give Belarus the new start it needed. The counting process lack transparency. Frankly the people of Belarus deserve better,” said Tony Lloyd, head of the observer mission.

The EU has called for detained opposition candidates to be freed. Among them, Vladimir Neklyayev who was beaten by police amid the protests in the ex-Soviet republic.

He was reportedly forcibly removed from hospital where he’d been taken for treatment.

Several thousand people had defied official warnings to protest as the results gave Alexander Lukashenko almost 80 percent of the vote.

Dozens were injured in the clashes and there were reports of mass arrests. The government says the police responded legitimately after demonstrators tried to storm government buildings.

State-controlled media stressed injuries to police and accused some opposition members of planning to cause explosions.

The violence had echoes of the repression of earlier times during Lukashenko’s 16 years in power.

The immediate international reactions hint at an east-west rift. President Medvedev said the election was an “internal matter” for Belarus and a Russian-led observer mission said the vote was legitimate.

It presents a dilemma for the EU, which had been wooing Minsk with the prospect of international aid.

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