Thousands take to streets after Lukashenko is sworn in secretly

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MINSK: Belarusian security forces began detaining people and fired water cannon to disperse crowds as thousands took to the streets of Minsk in protest against the abrupt inauguration of veteran President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday. Ignoring calls for an end to his 26-year grip on power, Lukashenko was sworn in for a sixth term after an election that the opposition and several foreign governments say was rigged. The ceremony would normally have been publicised as a major state occasion but was instead held without warning following Lukashenko’s claim of a landslide victory in the Aug 9 vote. The ex-Soviet republic’s...

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