Tens of thousands attended rallies in Minsk and other cities across Belarus on September 20 as calls for an end to the rule of dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka continued. When these protests first erupted seven weeks earlier following a flawed presidential election, few expected them to last. After all, outcries over rigged votes were nothing new in Lukashenka’s Belarus, but they had never previously amounted to much. Indeed, throughout the previous 26 years of dictatorial rule, sustained public protests had been virtually unheard of.
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Franak Viačorka: How post-election protests are creating a new Belarus
Members of the Belarusian diaspora and Ukrainian activists hold former white-red-white Belarus flags during a rally in support of Belarusians protesting against presidential election results, in Kiev on September 20, 2020. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
