Mass rally held in Minsk by Belarus opposition despite ban

Photo by EPA

Minsk, Belarus — The opposition party in Belarus holds a mass rally despite ban.

It has been just two weeks since after the disputed election gave President Alexander Lukashenko another term in office.

Despite having police presence, a mass amount of people have been flowing in the central square. The protesters say Mr Lukashenko stole the election and that they want him to resign.

The president has vowed to crush the unrest and has previously blamed the dissent on unnamed “foreign-backed revolutionaries”.

The official results say that Mr Lukashenko – who has ruled Belarus for 26 years – has won over 80% of the vote in the 9 August election and that the opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya 10%.

There were no independent observers, and the opposition says there was massive vote rigging.

Ms Tikhanovskaya vowed that he would, “stand till the end” in the protests. He was forced to flee to neighbouring Lithuania the day after the election.