Belarus has responded to new EU sanctions by canceling the accreditation of all foreign journalists and drawing up a travel blacklist forbidding entry. DW's editor in chief called the revocations "absurd."
Image: TUT/AP/picture-alliance
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The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said Friday it had canceled existing press accreditation of all journalists working for foreign media organizations in Belarus.
The ministry said in a statement that Belarus was "updating" the procedures for accreditation as current media regulations were "outdated."
"It is an absurd suggestion that every single journalist who works for a foreign media organization should have their accreditation withdrawn and then reissued under new rules," said DW Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge.
Minsk's new 'information security'
"The only possible explanation is that the Belarusian government fears independent media and is using every possible trick to prevent independent reporting," Kasper-Claridge added.
Journalists will be allowed to reapply for press accreditation on Monday under a "streamlined" system, according to the ministry statement.
The ministry also leaves the door open for more curbs on foreign media, emphasizing that the most important job of the new Belarusian "information security" policy is to ensure the country's "information sovereignty."
"In the present situation, we must exercise our sovereign right to apply the necessary protective measures," according to Belarusian authorities.
DW's Kasper-Claridge said the move was "utterly shameful and must be stopped immediately."
"The accreditation system must be made fair and transparent," she said.
Women stand up to Lukashenko
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'Counter-sanctions'
The Foreign Ministry also said it compiled a list of people barred from entering Belarus as part of retaliatory sanctions against the European Union.
The ministry said it was introducing "counter sanctions" as a "reciprocal" measure after the EU adopted restrictions Friday against members of Lukashenko's regime.
Officials in Minsk said they would not disclose which EU officials were targeted.
Minsk also recalled its ambassadors from Poland and Lithuania for "consultations" and invited the Polish and the Lithuanian ambassadors in Belarus to "follow this example."
The rebuke is due to "unambiguously destructive activity" from those countries during the current crisis, according to the Belarusian officials.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has also asked the two EU countries to reduce staff stationed at their embassies in Minsk. However, neither Poland nor Lithuania intend to cut staff at their embassies in Minsk, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters later on Friday.
"We are not going to summon our ambassadors for consultations, and we will definitely not do anything to reduce personnel," he told reporters in Vilnius.
"If the advice becomes a request, then we will take appropriate measures."
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EU sanctions hit Lukashenko allies
Earlier on Friday, after weeks of deadlock, EU leaders agreed on a sanctions regime in response to a brutal crackdown on protestersfollowing a controversial election the EU has said was rigged to give Lukashenko 80% of the vote.
Some 40 Belarusian officials have been targeted with travel bans and asset freezes, although Lukashenko is not on the list.
The officials on the list are those the bloc accuses of falsifying the election outcome and being behind the violent crackdown on protesters in the aftermath of the August 9 nationwide ballot.
How flower power can overturn a system
From the carnation to the jasmine, flowers have long been fighting for peace and freedom. In Belarus, protesters are also using flowers to demand change.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Sharifulin
Flowers for a new Belarus
Reacting to the police's brutal crackdown on demonstrators following the contested reelection of longtime President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian women adopted powerful symbols of peace to pursue the protests. Dressed in white and bearing flowers, they marched and formed solidarity chains in the streets of Minsk, the country's capital. Flowers have often served as a revolutionary symbol.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Sharifulin
The Carnation Revolution
Military rule ran for nearly 50 years in Portugal. Arbitrary torture and censorship were imposed by generals such as Carmona and later Salazar. In 1974, army dissidents led to the fall of what was then Europe's oldest dictatorship. The citizens of Lisbon celebrated the nearly bloodless uprising with revolutionary red carnations. The period that followed was called the Third Portuguese Republic.
Image: Herve Gloaguen/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia
Another flower revolution is the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, named after the country's national flower. In January 2011, demonstrators overthrew the autocratic ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had led the country for over 20 years before fleeing from the protests to Saudi Arabia.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/F. Belaid
The blooming Arab Spring
The popular uprising in Tunisia marked the beginning of the Arab Spring, a wave of revolutionary protests which then followed in Egypt, Libya and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Tunisia still serves as the best example of a successful revolution. Although further protests followed the overthrow of the government, the country is considered relatively stable.
Image: C. Furlong/Getty Images
No peace in Syria
The multi-sided civil war is still ongoing in Syria, where this picture was taken in May 2013. The photo shows a Kurdish rebel of the Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) in Aleppo with a flower in his Russian AK-47. Seven years later, there is still no end in sight to the conflict.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Jasmines in China
Inspired by the successful uprisings in the Arab world, pro-democracy protests also started in China in 2011. In a clear reference to the events in Tunisia, protestors wore jasmine flowers. The Chinese authorities reacted quickly: Jasmines were banned in flower markets. On the internet, searches for the term "jasmine" were also blocked.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/How Hwee Young
Rose Revolution in Georgia
Though perhaps not as famous, another flower revolution took place in Georgia. In 2003, the protests that came to be known as the "Rose Revolution" led to the resignation of President (and former foreign minister of the Soviet Union) Eduard Shevardnadze. Protesters literally applied a quote from the first Georgian president: "We will throw roses instead of bullets on our enemies."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Aivazov
Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan
After parliamentary elections in February 2005, popular unrest in Kyrgyzstan led to the overthrow of President Akayev. Rioters used the symbol of the opposition, the mountain tulip. The situation remained unstable until Kyrgyzstan established a parliamentary republic in 2010. Human rights organizations nevertheless still report restrictions on freedom of the press and of expression.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/V. Drachev
Flowers and colors
The Tulip and Rose Revolutions are among the so-called color revolutions, a wave of protest movements in the former Soviet Union during the early 2000s, which also includes the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Flowers were already used in political protest much earlier: For instance, social democrats adopted the red rose as a symbol. Hippies protested against the Vietnam War with flowers too.
Image: Colourbox/Z. Krstic
Flowers in Thailand
Reacting to protests in 2013, the Thai government reversed the usual roles and let policemen distribute flowers to the demonstrators. After months of power struggles between the pro-government "Red Shirts" and the opposition coalition of "Yellow Shirts," the military seized power in a coup in 2014 and imposed martial law on the country.
Image: C. Archambault/AFP/Getty Images
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Moscow defends Minsk
The Kremlin sprang to the defense of its ally Belarus, criticizing the EU sanctions.
"In general we are very, very negative about the sanctions policy... this is more a manifestation of weakness than strength," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
