• Belarus, Lukashenko wins the presidential elections with 80.23 percent of the vote
  • Belarus, "Troops are massing in the capital Minsk"

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10 August 2020A man died after being run over by a special police vehicle. A dozen were injured and at least 200 people were arrested. This is the still partial chronicle of the night of clashes in Minsk, Belarus, after the elections which reconfirmed, for the sixth time, the incumbent president Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The clashes
According to the human rights NGO Viasna, the police used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to quell the crowd. "It is known - said an activist to Interfax - that two wards of a military hospital are full of wounded. Others - he adds - are in the emergency hospital and in hospital no. 6 in Minsk".

The police: everything under control
During the clashes, the police had made it known that they had "control of the situation". The state news agency Belta reported that "The police are in control of the situation in relation to unauthorized actions".

Tikhanovskaya's
appeal An appeal to the police to stop the violence "against their own people" and to the demonstrators to "avoid provocations" was launched last night by the opposition candidate for the Belarusian presidential elections, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, defeated at the polls by Aleksandr Lukashenko, in yesterday's vote. "I want to believe the police and soldiers to remember that they too are part of the population", reads Tikhanovskaya's appeal broadcast on Telegram channels close to the opposition, "and I ask the voters to avoid any provocation, not to provide reasons for the use of violence against demonstrators ".

Lukashenko's victory
With 80.23%, President Lukashenko came out the winner for the sixth time in the elections. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya got 9.9% of the vote.
Congratulations on the victory came from President Vladimir Putin and from Chinese President, Xi Jinping. Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television also cited a phone call between Xi and the re-elected Belarusian president.

EU: condemns violence
"Violence against protesters is not the answer. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, fundamental human rights must be defended". The President of the European Council Charles Michel wrote on Twitter.

The opposition: vote does not correspond to reality 
The team of the presidential candidate of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya does not recognize the preliminary results of the presidential elections announced by the Central Electoral Commission. Press officer Anna Krasulina told the Interfax agency. "The announced election results do not correspond to reality and are completely contrary to common sense".