Man killed in Belarus protests over disputed election

AKIPRESS.COM - One man died Monday in Belarus where police fired rubber bullets and tear gas for a second day to quash protests against a disputed weekend presidential election which handed a sixth term to strongman Alexander Lukashenko, AFP reported. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya - a political novice who has managed to galvanize the opposition - called on Lukashenko, in power since 1994, to step down, saying she had won Sunday's vote.
The whereabouts of Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old mother of two, were not known to her campaign staff on Monday night, her spokeswoman told AFP.
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- TUT.BY (@tutby) August 10, 2020 Tikhanovskaya had earlier said she would not take part in the demonstrations that have been brutally quashed, leading to widespread Western condemnation.
Police said a protester died when an explosive device went off in his hand Monday night, confirming the first casualty of post-election protests.
"One of the protesters tried to throw an unidentified exlosive device at members of law enforcement. It exploded in his hand," the interior ministry said, adding that he died of his injuries.
Several thousand protesters took to the streets of the capital Minsk for a second night of post-election rallies, with opposition supporters shouting "Shame!" and "Long Live Belarus!" and waving flags or honking their cars.
Police in full riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets on them and injured a female journalist, a witness told AFP. Blasts that sounded like stun grenades were also heard.
Independent Belarusian media including tut.by also reported the use of force, saying some protesters were erecting barricades.
Tikhanovskaya, whose surprise candidacy posed the biggest challenge to Lukashenko in years, said the vote had been rigged.
"The authorities should think about how to peacefully hand over power to us," she told reporters. "I consider myself the winner of this election."
Later Monday Tikhanovskaya went to lodge a complaint with the Central Election Commission where she spent three hours, her spokeswoman Anna Krasulina told AFP.
After leaving the commission headquarters Tikhanovskaya has gone incommunicado, said Krasulina without providing further details.
Lithuania's foreign minister also said he could not reach Tikhanovskaya for several hours late Monday.
"I tried to reach her for several hours but her whereabouts are unknown since she went to the election commission to file a protest over the vote count," Linas Linkevicius told AFP late Monday.
"It raises concern about her safety," Linkevicius told AFP.
Earlier Monday, election officials confirmed Lukashenko's re-election for a sixth term, saying he had won more than 80% of the vote, with Tikhanovskaya coming second with 10%.