Deputies Refuse to Leave Belarus Parliament

Fearing President Alexander G. Lukashenko would evict them from the chamber, deputies occupied the Belarus parliament on Saturday.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside to demand Lukashenko’s removal. Under the watchful eyes of police, the crowd shouted “Impeachment!” and cheered and applauded the deputies, who were allowed to move freely in and out of the chamber.

Lukashenko has cracked down on his political foes, sparking charges of dictatorship.

Dozens of deputies stayed overnight in the parliament, fearing a repeat of Friday’s events in which Lukashenko’s special services barred the country’s top electoral official from entering his office.

They have called an emergency session for Monday.

Lukashenko, 42, has vowed to press ahead with a referendum on Nov. 24 and to assume more powers in defiance of the constitutional court, parliament and critics at home and abroad. He has ignored rulings from rival institutions in the past.

He also has threatened to dismiss anyone or dissolve any institution that does not recognize the referendum. On Thursday he fired Viktor Gonchar, head of the electoral commission that monitors voting in the republic of 10 million.

Gonchar, who was appointed by parliament, had pledged not to validate the referendum. Police blocked the entrance to his office at the Central Commission on Elections and Referendums on Saturday for the second day.

“What happened today is the beginning of the end for this regime,” Gonchar told reporters late Friday. “I will continue to fight for my job as a symbolic act.”

There also were signs that Lukashenko might be clamping down on the media. Local journalists said Saturday’s edition of Svoboda (Freedom) had been seized at the Lithuanian border.

Lukashenko has fired several newspaper editors since winning the election in July 1994, and many opposition newspapers are barred from printing in Belarus and are published in Lithuania instead.

In the referendum, Lukashenko will seek authority to extend his term by more than two years, to appoint more than half the electoral commission and constitutional court and to create an upper house of parliament partly named by him.

The court and parliament have ruled the referendum should be advisory and not be legally binding, but Lukashenko has dismissed the ruling by decree.

In a breach of electoral law, official vehicles took to the streets of Minsk on Saturday, urging people to take part in early voting that began Nov. 9 and is intended only for those who cannot vote on Nov. 24.