Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki plans to meet leaders of opposition parties on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Belarus, the PM's Chief of Staff Michal Dworczyk said on Monday.
"Today the prime minister will send official invitations for the meeting on Wednesday, whose main topic will be the situation in Belarus. This situation should be considered outside the current political dispute," Dworczyk told TVN24.
"We would like to talk with the representatives of other parties about further steps, as there is no doubt that this extraordinary situation in Belarus will not end soon," Dworczyk also said.
Tens of thousands of protesters demanding Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko step down defied a warning from the military on Sunday and flooded into Minsk, briefly gathering near the president's residence, before dispersing peacefully.
"For the first time in Belarus we have to do with demonstrations not by opposition parties or groups. These are Belarusians demonstrating, who want to live in a free country and have the right to democratic election," Dworczyk said.
Hope for dialogue
Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has led the biggest challenge to Alexander Lukashenko's 26-year rule, hopes a dialogue with the authorities will start soon, she told Polish Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
Belarus is facing its biggest political crisis since the breakup of the Soviet Union, with tens of thousands of demonstrators rejecting Lukashenko's victory in an August 9 vote his opponents say was rigged.
Opponents of Lukashenko established a body, the Coordination Council, last week with the stated aim of negotiating a transfer of power. Belarus launched a criminal case accusing it of an illegal attempt to seize power.
"The aim of the Council is to run a dialogue with the current authorities. I hope that dialogue will take place soon. However, the first condition is the release of political prisoners," Tsikhanouskaya told Gazeta Wyborcza daily in an interview published on Monday.
Tsikhanouskaya, a political novice, emerged as the consensus opposition candidate after better-known figures, including her jailed activist husband, were barred from standing. She fled to neighbouring Lithuania after the August 9 vote.
She said that she would not run again if a new election were held, but expected her husband might. She would see herself working in human rights organisations, she said.
"It is too early to talk about it though. The main goal is a new election," she said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters