Belarus' Dictator So Offended by Litter He's Ready to Confiscate Cars
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has had enough with polluters. According to reports, he's now threatening to seize the cars of people who defile the country by dumping their trash anywhere but the garbage.
.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has had enough with polluters. According to reports, he's now threatening to seize the cars of people who defile the country by dumping their trash anywhere but the garbage.
As Rick Noack noted:
According to the state-run news agency BelTA, the president warned of drastic punishments for offenders polluting the environment, including the "confiscation of vehicles."
He added that this eccentric approach to governance is hardly new for the premier, who has previously crackdown on dissenters by fining them for applauding as a form of protest. He's also jailed journalists and opposition activists.
Lukashenko came to power in July 1994, meaning he has now been in power for two decades, the longest-serving European leader.
Alexander Lukashenko has been president of Belarus all my life. Man, I feel old! #90skid #buzzfeed
— Dan Jensen (@jensenthedan) July 25, 2014After being branded as "Europe's last dictator" by German Former Minister Guido Westerwelle in 2012, here's how Lukashenko responded:
Whoever was shouting about dictatorship there ... when I heard that, I thought: it's better to be a dictator than gay."
Westerwelle is Germany's first openly gay minister.