Nationwide strike to begin in Belarus on Aug 17

Protesters in Belarus are getting ready for a nationwide strike / REUTERS

Protesters in Belarus have announced a nationwide strike will begin on Monday, August 17.

"[It will continue] until the requirements of the people are met," according to an announcement on the NEXTA Live Telegram channel.

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Belarus protests in brief

• On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus.
• The country's Central Election Commission announced the final election results. In particular, 80.1% of voters supported incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, 10.1% voted for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 1.67% for Anna Kanopatskaya, 1.2% for Andrey Dmitriev, and 1.14% for Sergei Cherechnya. Some 4.59% voted against all candidates.
• On the evening of August 9, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to take part in spontaneous rallies, which was followed by clashes with law enforcement. The police in Minsk used water cannons, tear gas, stun grenades, and fired rubber bullets in a crackdown on protests.
• Belarus' Ministry of Internal Affairs announced about 3,000 protesters were detained on the night of August 10, more than 2,000 people on the night of August 11, and more than 1,000 on the third night of the protests in different towns and cities across the country.
• The ministry confirmed one of the protesters had died. As of today, there were reports about two deaths among protesters.
• The UN has condemned the violence and violation of human rights in Belarus, a number of countries have called on Minsk to stop the atrocities.
• Belarus' largest March of Freedom began across the country on August 16. In turn, the Belarusian authorities reportedly bussed workers of state-run enterprises and organizations to the center of Minsk to arrange a pro-government rally.