VILNIUS, October 26. /TASS/. People employed in private businesses, IT workers and members of religious communities need to go on strike in support of the Belarusian opposition, former Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya wrote on Telegram on Monday.

According to her, employees of state-owned enterprises went on strike on Monday morning following her call.

"I believe that private businesses, religious communities, cultural figures, athletes and IT workers will support the strikers and stop their work for one day," Tikhanovskaya wrote. She added that in her view, the strike at state enterprises was a tool of economic pressure, while the strike in private companies marked solidarity between people.

Tikhanovskaya’s ultimatum for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expired on October 25. The country’s opposition has called for strikes at industrial facilities starting on Monday. Telegram channels supporting the opposition wrote on Monday that many of the country’s major state enterprises had gone on strike. However, the Belarusian prime minister’s spokesperson Alexandra Isayeva said that all enterprises continued to operate normally.