KIEV, Ukraine – Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered Sunday in the capital of Belarus, the fourth week of daily protests begin the resignation of the authoritarian president of the country after the elections gave him a sixth term rigged demanding call. The protest against the “Hero City” Monument in Minsk suffering and resilience dressed in World War II at least 100,000 people, according to the application of Nexta Canal messaging, which is a primary means for the opposition. Large protest began after the August 9 presidential elections officials say landslide of President Alexander Lukashenko won 80%, his challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a former teacher and the wife of a popular blogger jailed. Lukashenko took office in 1994 was challenging but besieged not to a larger location sustained wave of protests even in this Eastern European nation of 9.5 million people. He refused to redo the selection, who said both the European Union and the United States, was not free and fair, and refused offers to help mediate the situation in the Baltic States. Lukashenko says, if required has reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia is sending security assistance. But Russia has emerged hesitantly deeply engage in Belarus disorders. Putin and Lukashenko spoke by telephone on Sunday, but a statement from the Kremlin gave some details of the conversation, others that Putin congratulates as indicated by the Belarusian leader for his 66th birthday. Tsikhanouskaya who fled because of concerns for Lithuania after the election for their safety, issued a scathing recognition birthday. “I wish him to overcome his fears, see the truth in your eyes, listen to the voice of the people and go away,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Lukashenko has made consistently to promote the protests Western countries responsible, arguing that NATO troops along the western border of Belarus with the aim of an intervention in repositioning unrest, a claim vehemently denies the alliance. On Sunday, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus on the border between Poland and Lithuania, the defense simulation against the invasion said military exercises conducted in the region of Grodno, nearby. Belarus cracked down hard on Saturday covers the foreign media that the protests were to deport at least four Russian journalists, including two from The Associated Press. The government and the credits of many Belarusian journalists revoked for foreigners new work agencies, including journalists, who works for AP. – Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this story Copyright AP.
Huge protest birthday of Belarus leader calls for the resignation
