Belarusians march against president

MOSCOW – As many as 10,000 protesters took to the streets of Minsk, capital of Belarus, on Sunday in one of the largest demonstrations staged against the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Demonstrators marched in three groups to a meeting away from the city center after riot police prevented them from entering a central square. No injuries were reported, but there were several arrests, organizers said.

The rally was addressed by Alexander Milinkevich, who ran against Lukashenko for the presidency last year in elections widely condemned as flawed.

“We are the majority. We will win,” Milinkevich told the protesters, who were marking the anniversary of the establishment in 1918 of an independent republic that was quickly suppressed by Red Army troops.

Belarus, which borders Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, attained its independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Lukashenko won a third term last year with nearly 83 percent of the vote.