Several Hundred People Resume Rally In Belarus's Minsk City Center

Several Hundred People Resume Rally in Belarus's Minsk City Center

Several groups of Belarusian pro-opposition protesters have resumed rallies in the center of Minsk on the back of three days of unrest following a controversial presidential election, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Several groups of Belarusian pro-opposition protesters have resumed rallies in the center of Minsk on the back of three days of unrest following a controversial presidential election, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday.

There is a large group marching toward the city center along the Independence Avenue, one of the Minsk protests' epicenter, composed predominantly of women wearing white and carrying flowers.

Several other groups are approaching the avenue to possibly join the rally, correspondents reported.

Protests erupted in Minsk and other Belarusian cities after the presidential election on Sunday which, according to official figures, ended in a landslide victory of incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko with over 80 percent of the vote, while his key rival, opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won less than 10 percent.

Tikhanovskaya, who according to her campaign was forced to flee from the country, refused to recognize the results and claimed that the true outcome was exactly the opposite, with her winning up to 80 percent of the vote.

Protests in Minsk have grown increasingly violent, with one confirmed fatality. The government deployed special security forces and limited the internet access in the city. According to scattered reports and footage, police used water cannons, stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters. Thousands of people were arrested and many journalists, both local and foreign, were detained, deported, assaulted or simply went missing.