Belarusians gather at Minsk to protest against President Lukashenko

 

     

Over one hundred thousand opposition supporters in Belarus have held a mass rally in the capital Minsk, two weeks after the disputed presidential election which declared President Alexander Lukashenko the winner. 

Since the election the supporters of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya have taken to the street to protest against the result which was met with a brutal crackdown from the Belarusian police authority. It was also reported that there were demonstration in other Belarus cities.

The protesters say Mr Lukashenko rigged the election and want him to resign.

    

The president has vowed to crush unrest and blamed the dissent on unnamed "foreign-backed revolutionaries".

Recent protests were met with a crackdown in which at least four people were killed. Demonstrators said they had been tortured in prisons.

According to official results, Mr Lukashenko - who has ruled Belarus for 26 years - won more than 80% of the vote in the 9 August election and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya 10%.

The opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, had fled to neighbouring Lithuania the day after the election and had vowed to stand till the end with the protesters.

  

In Lithuania, thousands of people - including President Gitanas Nausėda - formed a human chain from the capital Vilnius to the Belarusian border in solidarity with those protesting in Minsk.