A protest that began with a small group of elderly demonstrators swelled into a crowd of thousands in the Belarussian capital on Saturday, as citizens took to the streets to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko's victory in the previous week's election, which opposition groups condemned as fraudulent.
The demonstration fell on Freedom Day, an unofficial opposition holiday marking Belarus's brief 1918 independence from Russia. Marchers carrying handmade signs and flags were pushed onto sidewalks along Independence Avenue by large numbers of riot police and special forces, while passing drivers honked in solidarity.
Authorities blocked access to a square where protesters had camped earlier in the week, drawing sharp criticism from demonstrators. About 7,000 people eventually gathered in nearby Yanka Kupala park, where opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich addressed the crowd, vowing that Lukashenko's removal would come sooner than the next five-year election cycle.
The mood in the park was largely festive, though anger flared when a state television crew appeared. Protesters threw snowballs at the crew, reflecting resentment over state broadcasts that had depicted opposition figures as criminals and deviants. Not all Minsk residents supported the rally; one taxi driver defended Lukashenko and dismissed the protests as foreign interference.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2006, in its own words.