(ANSA-AFP) - MINSK, 31 JUL - Tens of thousands of
supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko's top election
rival on Thursday rallied in the Belarusian capital Minsk
despite an increasing crackdown on the opposition. The rally
came as Belarus authorities accused top members of the
opposition of collaborating with Russian fighters to destabilise
the ex-Soviet country. Backers of political novice Svetlana
Tikhanovskaya, a stay-at-home mother-of-two, packed a Minsk
square in what appeared to be the largest opposition protest in
the ex-Soviet country in a decade, an AFP journalist said. A sea
of people waved flags and ballons emblazoned with the
opposition's campaign symbols -- a victory sign, a clenched
fist, and a heart. "Change!" read one of the placards. The human
rights organisation Vyasna said at least 63,000 people had
turned out. Earlier Thursday, Belarus investigators accused
Tikhanovskaya's husband, blogger, Sergei Tikhanovsky, and
another prominent critic, Mikola Statkevich, of working together
with Russian mercenaries to plot mass unrest ahead of the August
9 election. Both Tikhanovsky and Statkevich were jailed in the
run-up to the polls. (ANSA-AFP). (ANSA).
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