WARSAW (Reuters) – 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 private television broadcaster 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.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Kim Coghill)
