Election protesters defy Belarus strongman

Hundreds of demonstrators shivered and cheered through the freezing pre-dawn today in the capital of Belarus, trying to keep up momentum in a drive to overturn a landslide election that gave a new term to authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Meanwhile, Europe’s main election-monitoring organisation and Western governments denounced the election of strongman Lukashenko, in terms ranging from 'seriously flawed' to 'blatantly fraudulent'.