Belarus protesters demand Prez Lukashenko’s resignation

MINSK: Demonstrators massed in central Minsk on Sunday after opposition leaders called for a huge rally to demand the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the latest in a wave of protests against his disputed re-election.

The authoritarian leader dispatched his notorious riot police to disperse spontaneous rallies that erupted after he claimed a sixth presidential term in an election two weeks ago that critics say was rigged.

Thousands of demonstrators draped in red-and-white flags of the opposition flooded Independence Square as a group of women protested against police violence ahead of the opposition’s “March of New Belarus”.

“We have just two demands: fair elections and stop the violence,” 32-year-old Igor told AFP.

Officials issued a warning to Belarusians against participating in “illegal demonstrations” and local news outlets published videos on social media showing water cannon and riot police with shields moving towards Independence Square.

The defence ministry said it would intervene to protect World War II memorials, which it described as “sacred places”.

The EU has rejected the results of the election and has vowed to sanction Belarusians responsible for ballot fraud and a police crackdown that saw nearly 7,000 people arrested and sparked gruesome allegations of torture and abuse in police custody.

Top EU diplomat Josep Borell warned that Belarus should not be allowed to become a “second Ukraine” and said it was necessary to deal with the 65-year-old Lukashenko.

DUBAI: Analysis from the black boxes of a Ukrainian passenger plane shows it was hit by two missiles 25 seconds apart and that passengers were still alive for some time after the impact of the first blast, Iran said on Sunday.

The announcement by the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization marks the first official report on the contents of the cockpit voice and data recordings, which were sent to France for reading in July.

Tehran has said it accidentally shot down the Ukraine airliner in January at a time of extreme tensions with the US. All 176 people aboard the plane were killed.

The second missile hit the aircraft 25 seconds after the first, but only 19 seconds of that gap was captured on the recordings because of damage from the first missile, Touraj Dehghani-zanganeh was cited as saying by state television.

“Nineteen seconds after the first missile hit the plane, the voices of pilots inside the cockpit indicated that the passengers were alive ... 25 seconds later the second missile hit the plane,” he said. “Therefore, no analysis of the performance and effects of the second missile was obtained from the aircraft’s black box.”