As protests in Belarus continued into their third day, nearly 70 activists — both Ukrainians and members of the Belarusian diaspora — came out in support. The demonstrators gathered at the Belarusian Embassy in Kyiv on Aug. 11 to express solidarity with Belarusians fighting back against what they believe to be electoral fraud.
Thousands of people across Belarus took to the streets on Aug. 9 after state exit polls claimed incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country for 26 years, had won yet another term in office with 80% of the vote. Protesters were angry because unofficial exit polls had shown an opposition challenger, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, winning roughly the same amount of the vote.
A homemaker who was previously not involved in politics, Tikhanovskaya registered to run for president after her husband, a political blogger, was arrested and prevented from standing as a candidate. Despite her minimal platform, she became a lightning rod for opposition support, attracting popular rallies across the country as she campaigned.
If elected, Tikhanovskaya promised to free all political prisoners, including her husband; hold new, free presidential elections within six months; and return the country to its more democratic 1994 constitution.
As protesters across Belarus took to the streets to oppose the official election results, riot police cracked down, beating and injuring dozens of people and arresting 7,000 demonstrators.
On Aug. 11, Tikhanovskaya fled to Lithuania. In a recorded message, she said that she had been forced to flee. In a tearful message, she called herself weak and concluded that “children are the most important thing in our lives.”
