Once again, thousands of protesters gathered at Minsk last Sunday, demanding President Alexander Lukashenko to resign from his post, which he has held for 26 years. The opposition supporters alleges that the results on the recent Presidential election last August 9 has been rigged in favor of Lukashenko, who got more than 80% of the vote and only 10% went to opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Despite heavy police presence, the demonstrators have been relentless in their call for free and fair elections.
BBC News: Belarus opposition holds mass rally in Minsk despite ban
BBC News Correspondents disclosed that the protesters say Mr Lukashenko stole 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%.
There were no independent observers and the opposition alleges massive vote rigging.
ABC News: Massive protests flood Belarus once more, as Lukashenko appears brandishing assault rifle
On another report by Patrick Reevall of ABC News, the protest appeared to be even larger than the historic demonstrations that swamped central Minsk last Sunday, when over a hundred thousand people took to the streets.
This time, a colossal procession of protesters marched back and forth from Minsk’s central Independence Square to a monument where protesters gathered last week, filling the long avenues between them for hours with a river of red and white: the colors of the opposition. Thousands more protested in other towns and cities in Belarus.
As evening approached, thousands of protesters marched peacefully around one of Lukashenko’s formal residencies, halting in front of a line of heavily armed riot police and armored vehicles.
