Politics
13 жніўня 2021, 15:55
Opinion: Lithuania’s aggression backfired in the form of street protests
MINSK, 13 August (BelTA) – The mounting protest movement in
Lithuania was provoked primarily by the aggressiveness and stupidity of
Lithuanian politicians who allowed a split in the society through their
foreign policy, the situation with migrants, COVID-19 response and
economic situation, political analyst Sergei Markov said in an interview
with Baltnews.
“The reason for the crisis is the aggressiveness
of the country's authorities who played an active role in the attempted
coup in Belarus that sought to overthrow the current government of
President Aleksandr Lukashenko,” the political expert noted.
He
recalled the statement of Aleksandr Lukashenko who said that Belarus
would no longer guard the Lithuanian border. “They let anyone cross the
border. Earlier, 90% of the work to protect the border against migrants
was done by the Belarusian authorities, but now they refused to do it
free of charge for the Lithuanian authorities, since the latter are
pursuing an unfriendly policy,” Sergei Markov explained.
This,
according to Sergei Markov, was one of the examples of the ‘stupidity of
the Lithuanian authorities’ that manifested itself in the aggressive
policy towards Minsk. “Then there is another example. Out of the blue
Lithuania got into a fight with China by allowing Taiwan to open a
representative office. As a result, this sparked a crisis with China,
which is one of the world’s two most important economic centers
alongside the United States,” Sergei Markov emphasized.
In addition, the anti-COVID restrictions imposed by Vilnius are not just tough. They are simply stupid at times, he added.
The
unrest provoked by Lithuania's short-sighted policy is gaining
momentum. Meanwhile Vilnius has chosen the ‘silence’ tactic hoping to
muzzle supporters of the protest, Sergei Markov believes.
"What
we see now are the attempts to cancel all those politicians who have
voiced support for the protests. The Lithuanian media, the authorities
of the republic are not giving them the floor to speak. A policy of
hushing up is in action," Sergei Markov said.
In his opinion, the
Lithuanian authorities will continue accusing foreign intelligence
services of inciting the protests and the migrant crisis. “This is a way
of self-defense for the current government,” the expert stressed.
He
also mentioned the racist attitude of the Lithuanian authorities to
migrants. “The attitude of the Lithuanian authorities to destitute
migrants from Syria and Iraq is, without a doubt, racist and must be
condemned. This is a shame of the European Union which does not yet have
the strength to condemn the completely racist attitude of the
Lithuanian authorities,” Sergei Markov said.
Earlier, thousands
of protesters took to the streets of Vilnius demanding to lift the
restrictions for the unvaccinated and calling on the government to
resign. The protests turned violent, resulting in 26 people being
detained and the police using tear gas to disperse the protesters.