Belarus protests: Scenes of protests on the the streets of Minsk

Police in Belarus detained 700 more people during a fourth day of protests over the ex-Soviet country's disputed election, the interior ministry said Thursday. Hundreds of people were back on the streets of Belarus' capital on Thursday morning, protesting for a fifth straight day against an election they say was rigged to extend the rule of the country's authoritarian leader and against a crackdown on rallies that followed the vote.

In several areas of Minsk, large groups of people formed long ``lines of solidarity." More than 100 women carrying flowers and portraits of their loved ones detained during protests gathered in the southwestern part of the city, where police had shot rubber bullets at people chanting and clapping on balconies the night before.

Thousands of people have rallied all across Belarus since Sunday, demanding a recount of the ballot that gave President Alexander Lukashenko a landslide victory with 80% of the vote, and his top opposition challenger only 10%. In this picture police block a street using flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets to disperse protesters during a mass rally following presidential election in Minsk.

Police moved aggressively to break up the protests with batons, stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets. One protester died Monday in Minsk, and scores were injured.

Radio Liberty in Belarus reported that one more man died in a hospital in the city of Gomel, southeastern Belarus, after being detained by police. The crackdown on protesters drew harsh criticism in the West.

Some 6,000 people have been detained this week, according to the Interior Ministry. Belarus' Investigative Committee launched a criminal probe into mass rioting _ a charge that implies lengthy prison terms.

A woman takes part in a demonstration against police violence during the recent rallies of opposition supporters following the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus. This year the economic damage caused by the coronavirus and the president's swaggering response to the pandemic, which he airily dismissed as ``psychosis,'' has fueled broad anger, helping swell the opposition ranks and prompting the Belarusian leader to unleash a renewed crackdown on dissent.

A woman fights with a police officer as the other police officers detain an opposition supporter protesting the election results as protesters encounter aggressive police tactics in the capital of Minsk, Belarus. Heavy police cordons blocking Minsk's central squares and avenues didn't discourage the demonstrators who again took to the streets chanting "Shame!" and "Long live Belarus!" Police moved quickly Tuesday to separate and disperse scattered groups of protesters in the capital, but new pockets of resistance kept mushrooming across downtown Minsk.

Relatives and friends of detained participants of recent opposition rallies gather outside a detention centre in Minsk. Police in Belarus said on August 12 they had detained hundreds more people and used firearms against protesters in a third night of violence over a disputed presidential election.

Women react outside a detention centre, where people detained during recent protests against the presidential election results are held in Minsk, Belarus.

People from Belarus show posters to express their protest against the official results in Belarusian presidential vote in Berlin, Germany.