MINSK – A Belarusian opposition activist who has been rallying against the reelection of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and collecting signatures to run against him has canceled rallies in big cities amid crackdown on her supporters.
In a video statement released Thursday, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya urged supporters not to hold pickets and not to collect signatures for her candidacy in Minsk and other big cities in the next few days. “Not a single signature is worth the suffering of you and your families," Tikhanovskaya said.
Tikhanovskaya is the wife of a popular opposition blogger, Sergei Tikhanovsky, who is the mastermind of the campaign. In late May, he was detained at a rally in Grodno, western Belarus.