Belarus sees its largest demonstration in 10 years as more than 60,000 people rally in Minsk
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA At least 63,000 people joined an authorized rally in support of presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya) in Minsk on the evening of July 30, the Belarusian human rights center “Vyasna” reported. This is one of the biggest protest rallies in the history of modern Belarus and the largest demonstration the country has seen in 10 years. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya — who entered the presidential race in place of her husband, jailed opposition blogger Sergey Tikhanovsky (Syarhey Tsikhanouski) — is now considered the main rival of sitting President Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka), as he runs for his sixth consecutive term in office. The presidential elections in Belarus are scheduled for August 9. You can read our interview with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya here.
