KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Sunday on the outskirts of the presidential in the Belarusian capital, calling on the country’s authoritarian leader to renounce protests opposing President Alexander Lukashenko’s entry in his fifth week.
Demonstrations were also held in the main cities of Belarus, interior Ministry spokeswoman Olga Chemodanova said. Not without delay was reported about the length of the crowd for the protests, but Ales Bialiatski, head of the human rights organization Viasna, said the protest in Minsk attracted more than 100,000 people.
The unprecedented protests in Belarus for its duration and duration began after the presidential election on 9 August which, according to election officials, gave Lukashenko a sixth term with 80% support. Protesters say the effects were rigged, and some told Associated Press reporters precisely how the fraud took a position in their districts.
Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron hand since 1994, suppressing dissent and press freedom.
Police violently suppressed protesters in the early days of the protests, arresting some 7,000 more people and beating hundreds. Although they have declined, arrests continue; Viasna reported that dozens of others were arrested on Sunday in Minsk and the city of Grodno.
Police and army troops blocked central Minsk on Sunday, but protesters marched outside the Independence Palace, the president’s apartment 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the city center. The palace grounds were blocked by police phalanxes and water cannons.
“This sea of other people will stop with army equipment, water cannons, propaganda and arrests. Most Belarusians need a nonviolent replacement of force and we won’t tire of it not being easy,” said Maria Kolesnikova, head of the opposition coordination council for Consulte to organize a discussion with Lukashenko, 66, about a transition of strength.
He spoke to The Associated Press on the phone.
Lukashenko rejected any discussion with the council and some of its key members were imprisoned. One of them, Olga Kovalova, expelled from the country over the weekend, led to Poland by police.
Despite the impasse between Lukashenko and the opposition, protesters say they are determined not to tire us out. Some of the symptoms they carried on Sunday showed a good sense of humor.
“Loukachenka, start building a space near Yanukovych,” reads the saying of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 after months of anti-government protests.
“The collective farm went bankruple,” said another, referring to Lukashenko’s former post as director of the collective farm and his own of a largely state-controlled Soviet-style economy for Belarus, an Eastern European country of 9. 5 million.
The government also revoked the accreditation of many Belarusian announcers and expelled some foreign announcers, adding two Associated Press announcers founded in Moscow. Belarusian AP announcers were among those who said their press references had been revoked.
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Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Follow the entire AP on advances in Belarus in https://apnews. com/Belarus.