Belarus protesters battered, bruised but defiant after 100 days

2020-11-18 02:58:51

Opposition protesters remain defiant in Belarus despite police brutality, 100 days after they first took to the streets to denounce the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. Police in helmets and body armour throw women holding flowers and balloons into police vans. Officers tear-gas elderly people on a pensioners' march. Men in balaclavas chase musicians for singing songs from popular cartoons in courtyards. Yet every Sunday thousands still pour into the streets of the capital Minsk, condemning what they see as Mr Lukashenko's fraudulent 9 August victory. Western governments have also condemned the widely reported election abuses and Mr Lukashenko's violent crackdown.