Written by Ria Singh, a grade 6 student

In August we wrote about the protests in Belarus and also a short history of the country. To better understand what’s happening there today, you can read those quicky.

Protests have been going on in Belarus (a country in Eastern Europe) for a while now. The main issue is that people are angry about the election results, which they say have been rigged (cheated) by Alexander Lukashenko (a dictator who led the country for 26 years). He supposedly won 80% of the votes.

Now thousands of angry citizens, who support the opposition party, have taken to the streets in the city of Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

These latest protests have come after police forcibly detained hundreds of people at a women’s march a day before. The women were protesting against the detention of an opposition leader. the police, however, arrested many women at the march.

The protest was called the March of Justice where people holding red-and-white protest flags gathered and moved towards the Palace of Independence, which is where Alexander Lukashenko offices are located. Protestors help placards saying things like “Cowards beat up women” and “Get out!”.

Alexander Lukashenko is sometimes referred to as ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’