Belarusian Police Detain Dozens As Thousands Of Anti-Government Protesters Rally

MINSK – Belarusian police have detained dozens of protesters demanding the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a new presidential election following a disputed vote in August.

Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd near the Pushkinskaya subway station in the capital, Minsk, where several thousand marchers gathered on November 15.

Demonstrators carried the banned white-red-white flags that have become a symbol of the political opposition in Belarus and chanted slogans like, “Lukashenka! Tribunal!” and “Love live Belarus!”

Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, has faced almost daily protests calling for his resignation since a presidential election on August 9 that the opposition says was rigged and which the West has refused to accept.

Russia, meanwhile, has supported Lukashenka in the ongoing standoff.

Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested since authorities declared Lukashenka the landslide winner of the vote.

There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.

Most of the country’s opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, including Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya.