Lithuanian Foreign Ministry: Tsikhanouskaya In Lithuania

MINSK — Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius has said on Twitter that Belarusian election challenger Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya is in Lithuania.

Linkevicius tweeted that Tsikhanouskaya “is safe. She is in #Lithuania.”

The foreign minister did not give any further details.

Thousands of people turned out in the Belarusian capital for a second night of protests to demonstrate against official election results that say incumbent President Alyaksandr Lukashenka won in a landslide.

Preliminary official results announced by the Central Election Commission (TsVK) on August 10 showed Lukashenka with a landslide victory and Tsikhanouskaya with less than 10 percent.

The opposition has called for a nationwide protest strike starting at noon local time on August 11.

Tsikhanouskaya, who entered the race after her husband, a popular vlogger, was jailed, told reporters after the vote she considered herself the election winner.

“The authorities are not listening to us. The authorities need to think about peaceful ways to hand over power,” she said. “Of course we do not recognize the results.”

Protester Death

During the second night of protests, a protester died after an unidentified explosive device blew up in his hand while he tried to throw it at the police, the Interior Ministry said, according to RFE/RL’s Belarus Service. The incident occurred after nightfall on August 10 during a confrontation with riot police, who had arrived to clear protesters from a plaza in the Belarusian capital.

There were reports that demonstrators were being fired upon when the man died. RFE/RL’s Belarus Service said several thousand people were in the area at the time. Traffic has been partially blocked as some of the protesters attempt to build barricades using dumpsters.

Police reportedly fired tear gas and rubber bullets earlier and detained protesters as demonstrations against the result of the August 9 presidential election prompted a second day of unrest in Minsk and elsewhere in the country.

Belarus Votes For President

Read our coverage as voters in Belarus decide on August 9 whether President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will continue after 26 years in power.

The renewed demonstrations on August 10 followed violent clashes between protesters and police the night before that occurred after an exit poll indicated Lukashenka had a resounding lead over opposition candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

In its first comment since the election, the White House said it was “deeply concerned by the Belarus presidential election…and we urge the Belarusian government to respect the right to peaceably assemble and to refrain from the use of force.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed that sentiment in a separate statement, urging the Belarusian government “to respect the rights of all Belarusians to participate in peaceful assembly, refrain from use of force, and release those wrongfully detained.”

Britain had called on Belarus to refrain from further violence against protesters following what it called the “seriously flawed” vote, while France urged security forces to exhibit “the greatest restraint.”

The opposition said it was ready to hold talks with the authorities, but the government didn’t respond.

Belarusians are upset over the economy, the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and human rights abuses in Lukashenka’s 26 years in office.

Lukashenka on August 10 repeated allegations that forces abroad were trying to manipulate protesters, whom he referred to as “sheep,” in order to topple him.

“There were phone calls from Poland, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic, to manage our, sorry for my language, sheep,” Lukashenka said during a meeting with Sergei Lebedev, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

“They are trying to orchestrate mayhem,” said Lukashenka. “But I have already warned: there will be no revolution.”

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, BelTA, Reuters, AP, and AFP