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.
Protests were also held in major Belarusian cities, interior Ministry spokeswoman Olga Chemodanova said. Not without delay was reported the number of people who took part in the protests, but Ales Bialiatski, head of the human rights organization Viasna, said the demonstration 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 blocked the center of Minsk on Sunday, but protesters marched to the outskirts of independence palace, the president’s painting apartment 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the town centre. Cannons.
“This sea of other people will stop with army equipment, water cannons, propaganda and arrests. Most Belarusians need a non-violent replacement of force and we won’t tire of it not being easy,” said Maria Kolesnikova, leader of the Coordination Council. through opposition to verify and organize a discussion with Lukashenko, 66, about a transition of force.
He spoke to The Associated Press on the phone.
Lukashenko has rejected any discussion with the council and some of its main members have been imprisoned. One of them, Olga Kovalova, expelled from the country over the weekend, taken to Poland by police.
Despite the stalemate between Lukashenko and the opposition, protesters say we are determined not to tire. Some of the symptoms they brought on Sunday showed a good sense of humor.
“Loukachenka, he begins to build a space near Yanukovych,” says one, referring to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 after months of protests against the government.
“The collective farm has been ruined,” said another, referring to Lukashenko’s former post as director of the collective farm and his maintenance of a largely state-controlled Soviet-style economy for Belarus, an Eastern European country of 9. 5 million inhabitants.
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.