Repression continues in Belarus. The authorities announced, Wednesday, August 12, the death of a demonstrator arrested during a rally against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. This is the second death recorded since the start of this violently repressed protest movement.

The Investigation Committee, a powerful investigative body, said a 25-year-old man died in a hospital in Gomel (south), after being arrested on Sunday, during an "unauthorized demonstration". According to this source, which does not specify the exact date of death, his health "suddenly deteriorated" while he was in detention.

The clashes also left one dead in Minsk and the police said they opened fire with live ammunition in Brest (southwest), injuring one.

The cordoned off capital

In the hyper-center of the capital, metro stations were closed on Wednesday evening and traffic completely banned. Numerous police officers were also deployed in several main streets.

Near the Ouroutché station, northeast of Minsk, demonstrators who formed a human chain were dispersed and beaten by police, amid screams, according to an AFP journalist.

Dozens of women have also formed human chains in other parts of the capital to denounce the police crackdown on protests against the August 9 re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, in power for 26 years.

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"You are also someone's son!" Proclaimed placards carried by about fifty demonstrators, dressed in white, in Surganov Street, a usually very busy artery of the capital, this evening almost empty.

Nearly 6,000 arrests

During the previous three nights of protests, security forces arrested some 6,000 people across the country, but it is not known how many are still being held.

Since Sunday evening, police have been using stun grenades and rubber bullets against protesters and at least 250 injured have been admitted to hospital. Internet access has also been severely disrupted.

Numerous scenes of beatings of protesters were broadcast on social networks, while President Lukashenko called the protesters "unemployed with a criminal past".

Belarusian state television on Wednesday published a report showing six suspected young protesters, handcuffed and swollen faces, telling the camera that they "did not want to revolutionize."

Macron concerned about the situation

Neighbors of Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, presented Wednesday a plan providing for the creation of a "national council" bringing together representatives of the Belarusian government and civil society, under penalty of sanctions from Brussels.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "very great concern". US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, German Chancellery Angela Merkel and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also denounced the crackdown.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry, for its part, estimated that the mobilization of demonstrators was now down.

President Lukashenko's rival, opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, claimed victory before leaving Belarus for Lithuania on the night of Monday to Tuesday. A departure under the threat of the authorities, according to his supporters.

According to the Helsinki Committee in Belarus, a human rights NGO, there had never been a crackdown on "such violence" in the country.

More than 80% of the votes

According to the official results of the presidential election, Alexander Lukashenko obtained more than 80% of the vote, a fanciful score, say his detractors, who estimate on the contrary that Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, credited with 10% of the vote, won.

The latter has not spoken since her video on Tuesday announcing her hasty departure for Lithuania. According to her supporters, she suffered threats when she was held for hours by security forces on Monday.

Alexander Lukashenko, 65, has never let any opposition take hold. The previous great wave of protest, in 2010, had also been severely repressed.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a 37-year-old political novice, mobilized tens of thousands of people in a few weeks, a political fervor that Belarus had never known.

The stay-at-home mom replaced her husband Sergei, a prominent video blogger, after her arrest in May as he was growing in popularity.

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