More than 500 protesters were arrested Sunday night in Minsk, Belarus, by police with wielding clubs as demonstrations in the country pass the 90-day mark.
Thousands of protesters attempted to gather in Minsk’s central district, but the police blocked streets with armored vehicles and “phalanxes of riot offices” in order to prevent the protesters from assembling, according to the Associated Press.
Viasna, a human rights organization in Belarus, reported that more than 1,000 protesters were detained Sunday night, leading to 548 arrests. At least nine journalists were arrested.
Protests in Belarus began on Aug. 9, following an election that appeared to give President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office with 80% of the vote. The president’s detractors and some poll workers said the results were manipulated.
At least a dozen European countries and the United States refused to recognize Lukashenko’s inauguration, instead supporting calls for fresh elections and sanctions to pressure Lukashenko after human rights abuses.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the opposition leader who ran against Lukashenko, said that her campaign staff monitored results from more than 50 polling stations and found her share of the vote exceeded Lukashenko’s “by many times,” according to NPR. Tikhanovskaya is currently in exile in Lithuania. She was briefly detained in Belarus after she filed a complaint regarding the results of the election.
Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. In September, he told reporters that he might have remained in power “for a bit too long” after protests broke out against his claim of victory. Despite the concession, he argued the outrage following the election was incited by Western powers, saying if he were to step down now, “the entire system will fall, and the entire country will follow suit.”
“Yes, perhaps I’ve sat [in the presidential chair] for a bit too long, maybe. I’m shown not only on TV, but on irons and kettles as well,” Lukashenko told Russian journalists, according to state-run media.
She expressed hope on Sunday that presumptive President-elect Joe Biden would increase pressure on Lukashenko and expressed her hope the demonstrators would continue to protest the results of the election.
“Joe Biden has spoken out more than once and taken a firm position of support for the Belarusian people,” she said. “We have stood against lawlessness and violence for 90 days already. In these 90 days, Belarusians made the regime understand that they have lost legitimacy and authority.”
