Over 800 arrested after Belarus demonstrations

MINSK: Police detained more than 800 people in Belarus on Sunday during the latest in weeks of unprecedented demonstrations against strongman Alexander Lukashenko, as the opposition reached out to US president-elect Joe Biden.

For three months running, tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Belarus on Sundays to protest against the disputed re-election of Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than two decades.

His opponents are demanding he hand power to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a political novice who ran for president against Lukashenko on Aug 9.

Several thousand protesters, many carrying the red-and-white opposition flag, joined a march in central Minsk on Sunday.

Police vans and water cannons were deployed to the centre of the city with police sporadically detaining protesters in various locations.

Journalists saw a heavy security presence, with baton-carrying riot police in black balaclavas grabbing protesters and taking them to police vans.

Local human rights group Viasna said that 830 people had been detained in the capital Minsk and other cities. Olympic decathlete Andrei Kravchenko and the 2008 Miss Belarus pageant winner Olga Khizhinkova were among those detained.

Pensioner Yelena Vasilyevich said she was taking part in the protest with her family and friends.

“I want to finally live in a free and democratic country,” said Vasilyevich, 65.

From exile in Lithuania, Tikhanovskaya said protests would continue “until victory” and that the past 90 days had shown authorities they had “lost legitimacy and power”.

“The regime doesn’t want to give us the right to decide what will happen next to our country,” she wrote on her Telegram channel.