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Opposition Announces National Strike in Belarus

Charles Maynes

   MOSCOW - Belarus's opposition called a countrywide general strike on
   Monday -- the latest in a series of efforts to dislodge longtime leader
   Alexander Lukashenko from power following what opponents say was a
   rigged presidential election in the former Soviet republic last August.

   Svetlana Tikhanovskaya -- Lukashenko's primary opponent in the race and
   who fled the country under state pressure following the vote --
   threatened the strike two weeks ago in an effort to reinvigorate the
   protest movement.'¯

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