Over 100,000 hold anti-Lukasheno demo in Minsk

Описание: (13 Sep 2020) More than 100,000 demonstrators calling for the authoritarian president of Belarus to resign marched through Minsk on Sunday, as daily protests that have gripped the nation entered their sixth week.
Many in the crowd, which human rights group Viasna estimated as totalling more than 150,000, carried placards critical of Russia, reflecting concerns about President Alexander Lukashenko's planned meeting on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million people with an iron fist since 1994, harshly repressing the opposition and the media.
But the protesters' determination appears strong this time, despite daily detentions and reports of police beatings and abuse.
The Interior Ministry said more than 400 people were detained Sunday in Minsk.
The ministry also reported demonstrations took place in 16 other cities, including Brest where police used water cannon against a crowd of several thousand.
Police on Sunday set up rows of barbed wire and prisoner transport vehicles and deployed thousands of servicemen to block off the city centre from demonstrators, but protesters came together outside the centre and marched toward the presidential residence on the city's outskirts.
Lukashenko, a former collective farm director, has rejected any concessions or mediation attempts and has repeatedly accused Belarus' western neighbours of working to overthrow his government.
In one show of aggressive defiance, he was seen striding with an automatic rifle across the grounds of his presidential residence.

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