(ANSA-AFP) - MINSK, 11 AGO - Belarus opposition challenger
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is in Lithuania, the foreign minister
said on Tuesday, following a second night of clashes in the
authoritarian former Soviet republic after a disputed election.
"She arrived in Lithuania and is safe," Foreign Minister Linas
Linkevicius told AFP. The minister did not provide further
details. EU and NATO member Lithuania, which was also once part
of the Soviet Union, has a history of granting refuge to
Belarusian and Russian opposition figures. The whereabouts of
Tikhanovskaya, a political novice who has claimed victory in
Sunday's poll against President Alexander Lukashenko, had been
unknown as of late Monday. One man died in protests in Belarus
as thousands took to the streets of the capital Minsk late on
Monday, saying Lukashenko had stolen the election from
Tikhanovskaya to take a sixth term. Police used rubber bullets,
stun grenades and tear gas but demonstrators fought back with
stones and fireworks and built makeshift barricades, AFP
reporters, protesters and witnesses said, in chaotic scenes of
defiance. (ANSA-AFP).
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