Hundreds held in Belarus crackdown

BELARUS detained hundreds of protesters, including opposition candidates, after smashing a mass rally protesting fraud in the landslide re-election of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko, described as Europe’s last dictator by Washington, won Sunday’s polls outright with 79.6% of the vote on the back of a massive turnout of over 90%, the central election commission said.

His nearest rival received less than 3% in elections which the OSCE observer mission said showed the ex-Soviet state was still a “considerable way” from holding democratic elections. Tens of thousands of outraged voters had braved arrest to gather in central Minsk as the results became official, some trying to storm government buildings and smashing glass doors.