Massive protest against Belarus strongman

MINSK: Tens of thousands of Belarusian protesters marched in the capital Minsk on Sunday despite authorities arresting demonstrators and deploying armoured personnel carriers and water cannon.

Protesters from all walks of life, from students to Catholic priests, came out on to the streets, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene. Many held red-and-white flags and placards while a band beat drums and played other instruments.

Police detained dozens of protesters for a fourth weekend of massive rallies against strongman Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election. Viasna rights group released the names of 37 protesters it said had been detained in the Belarusian capital.

Holding red-and-white flags and placards, protesters including many students took to the streets of the capital Minsk despite authorities mounting a massive show of force and detaining some demonstrators.

Troops, water cannon, armoured personnel carriers and armoured reconnaissance vehicles were deployed to the city centre ahead of the march and metro stations in Minsk’s centre were closed.

Unprecedented protests broke out after Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state for 26 years, claimed re-election with 80 per cent of the vote on August 9. Opposition rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she won the vote but Lukashenko’s security forces have detained thousands of protesters, many of whom accused police of beatings and torture.

Several people have died in the crackdown. Tikhanovskaya left Belarus under pressure from authorities and took shelter in EU member Lithuania. Belarusians have been demonstrating across the country for nearly a month even though the protest movement lacks a clear leader, with many activists jailed or forced out of the country.

Many say they will keep taking to the streets until Lukashenko quits. “Lukashenko must go,” Nikolai Dyatlov, a 32-year-old protester, told AFP. “Why is our legitimately elected president located in a different country?” he said, referring to 37-year-old Tikhanovskaya More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of the capital Minsk over the past three weekends.