(26 Aug 2020) Hundreds of striking workers protested near Minsk on Wednesday following the re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The employees of Belarusian Automobile Plant, which manufactures heavy trucks, were demanding Lukashenko resign and a new election to be held.
The protest in Zhodino, which is located about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Minsk, is part of a recent wave of strikes at industrial plants across the country.
They have posed an unprecedented challenge to Lukashenko who had relied on blue-collar workers as his core support base in the past.
Authorities have tried to end the strikes by pressuring workers and detaining the organisers.
The United States and the European Union have criticised this month's Belarusian vote as neither free nor fair and urged Lukashenko's government to engage in a dialogue with the opposition.
Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994, has dismissed the protesters as Western puppets and rejected offers of mediation from the EU.
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