Belarus says it has closed its border with EU countries. But Polish officials have described the action as just "another element of the propaganda campaign," saying the situation at the border hasn't changed.
Image: Alexey Maishevdpa/picture-alliance
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Embattled Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said troops would be pulled from the street to guard its borders with EU countries.
"We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland," said Lukashenko. "To our greatest regret, we are compelled to strengthen our border with brotherly Ukraine."
Polish officials said the situation had not yet changed at the border.
"We take this as another element of the propaganda campaign, a psychological game which aims to create a sense of an external threat," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told Reuters news agency.
Lithuanian border authorities also confirmed that the situation at the border with Belarus remained normal, saying they are waiting to see how the changes are implemented.
Since Lukashenko declared victory in a contentious presidential election last month, the former Soviet republic has seen thousands of protesters rally against his 26-year rule.
"Our people will not step away, they woke up and they want a new Belarus," former presidential candidate and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told DW last month. "The person who has to step down is Mr. Lukashenko."
Belarusian authorities have responded by cracking down on anti-government protesters and targeting opposition figures, including the leading opposition group, the Coordination Council, which has accused Lukashenko's regime of "openly using methods of terror.
Western countries have threatened to take disciplinary action against Belarus, including enacting targeted sanctions.
On Friday, nearly 30 countries issued a joint statement calling on Belarusian authorities to end internet blackouts, a tactic often used by repressive governments to stop the opposition from organizing.
"Shutdowns and blocking or filtering of services unjustifiably limit the rights of peaceful assembly and freedoms of association and expression, especially when they lack procedural fairness and transparency," said the statement.
Meanwhile, 17 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) launched an investigation into rights violations in the wake of the contested August election, saying: "The mission is about holding the Belarussian authorities accountable."
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.
