Very welcome youre watching the weekly with all the latest headlines and a roundup of the weeks top stories thanks for joining us. Now we can offer the hugely contested president ial election by the roots is still seeing massive demonstrations throughout the country both pro and antigovernment rallies have taken to the streets today in some cases gathering just meters apart as opposition protestors are holding a march for freedom through the campus all minsk theyre demanding the long time president Alexander Lukashenko resigns fighting concerns hes clinging to power by force and ignoring the voice of the people some of the marches are being held throughout the country. This person has been in power for 26 years hes clung to eat with his teeth and doesnt want to let go and when we are against violence were defending our boate were doing the best for the future of our contrary i want my children not to live in a country which has violence where theres no voice and no freedom of speech he said i cant agree with whats happening in the country one person is trying to hold on to power by force im trying to show everyone that im against it and thats why im here. At the same time demonstrators in support of the president have taken to the streets of minsk to voice their opinions to several 1000 people from all over the country gathered on dependent square in the capital to show their support for the president the progovernment demonstrators voiced fears about the security of the country saying its all too familiar to what happened in ukraine in 2014 go him self also made to the parents of the demonstrations thanking the people for their support. Was really just because it was. It was. Like yes i support Alexander Lukashenko i wasnt forced to come here this is my personal choice. Ive heard so many threats but they wont break me i bought the still shirt with my own money no one paid me. I support discipline whats happening now reminds me of ukraine in 2014 everything started in exactly the same way the young people with flowers now just dont understand what was happening here in 1900 s. Perhaps they want to return to 117 when people toppled the russian empire in a similar way and civil war here but we want peace. Process is also being held outside the by the Russian Embassy in moscow has been going on every day this week for my own culture of reports from the russian capital. This is the 8th day where were covering the protests here outside the embassy a bill or is let me just to give you a hint self whats going on this is a live picture you can see people lining up with the white ribbon the flowers with the red and white flags once again this has been happening here for 8 days straight on saturday with so all the largest turnout here as the line of protesters extended beyond the blog over the last few days with talk to people from all walks of life but this particular protests are caught my attention issues its a big chance there is no relief here waiting for something to happen being anxious theres nobody looks haitian there is no sense theres various pieces had to it feels like there is a trick but you do not know when it will play out today is my wedding anniversary i wanted to you know i. D. C. Events because in our personal life its turning point 3 cents in for motorists this is the moment at least you ok tonight hes in the resources for me uniting the students in suppost to new life Peaceful Demonstrations continue in minsk as well where our earlier least 65000 people came out in support of Alexander Lukashenko now those numbers are according to the interior ministry hours later and and see look at shango rally began that building up with our correspondent in minsk reporting that there are over 100000 people the most recent reports indicate that the citys Independence Square is filled to near capacity similar scenes have been recorded in other places in belarus as well as pro and anti look at shankar rallies unfolded meanwhile nato is calling on men silat all the peaceful protests to continue and said that theyre going to as ation is following the events in bella ruse very closely the statement came when right out. Sir look at shank award to his supporters thats a nato forces building up their army near the below russian border lithuanias foreign minister was quick to denounce this say that statement saying that it is indeed a lie however president bashar assad exotica shanker still announced military drills near the countrys western borders. Well for more on baseless cross live to journalist Brian Mcdonald now a brian thank you for joining us on the program that were prone to their rallies today in minsk and the president himself appeared defiant as ever can you survive this crisis im sorry i lost sound on the question. Am i was just saying how we still produce the rallies in minkes timmins today and the president himself a pay is defined as that what you think you can survive a crisis. I think well i mean its still 5050 as to whether hes going to survive or not everythings up in the air it depends on what the elites bandon him so abandon him sorry so far theres been no elites theres been a couple of ambassadors whove expressed sympathy with the protesters but theres been nobody from you know the Security Services or the establishment itself has come out so far inside the opposition publicly at least on till that happens hes probably safe and off and as for the rally of course everything could change by the hour at the moment so i say that now it could be another story in a few hours time as for the marchers today i mean look he had a rally he has supporters certainly still but its not 80 percent i mean lets be honest. The opposition rally was far larger than is 3 or 4 times larger it seems at least so look you know his support base its one thing is important to remember is that there is hes hes raising his supporters 3 percent or 2 percent like the opposition are saying i mean theres still a solid probably 2030 even 40 percent of that probably would vote for him in a Fair Election but its certainly not you know 80 percent i mean like you saw today like the size of the protests and brought no one minsk i mean you know you have you know it obviously the election result wasnt correct but if you are prepared to have a rerun of the election is the opposition was why did things go from here. But its really its very interesting because look theres 2 ways of looking at this 1st of all there is the internal situation which is you know very much between was going to say between the opposition but the opposition are basically all abroad except for one of them at the moment one of the 3 women who was involved to start i mean you know the others have gone abroad at the moment so i dont even know who he would negotiate with at this point you know some countries are trying to stick there or in most notably notably poland and lithuania who seem to be leading the e. U. Charge but at the end of the day would you greatest respect to lithuania in terms of the e. U. I mean its what its less than one percent of the population of the bloc less than 0. 5 percent i think its basically to the e. U. It was a greatest respect what a big a oblast is to you know russia poland is a more substantial player of course the 5th i think our 6th largest population the e. U. But on still you see the french or the german speaking or somebody senior in brussels being all the e. U. Is not really involved at that point the americans are very quiet about it i mean some pale was in minsk himself very just here was a 1st visit for 20 years i understand you and other senior u. S. Official but they have except for some comments from him pay 0 but election in the way it was conducted theyve been less vocal than they normally are in these kind of situations historically as from moscow conflicting signals from moscow i mean. 2 phone calls which over the weekend but if you look at the kremlin readouts of those conversations its very noncommittal i mean theres nothing about backing the personally its more about expressing solidarity with the loose as a country with the people and then if you look at some of the things that other people in moscow or a saying like i mean all the members the elites here members of the duma which is the parliament here in russia. You know there are a lot of them like we saw. Yesterday a lot of them are actually ridiculing some of so. Even from putins own party you said that russia should not recognize the results of the election i mean that was last week and as i said like you know putin himself has made no comments in support of go Sergey Lavrov the foreign minister has said nothing you know the Prime Minister the nobody from the top so at the moment i think my question is that russia will stay out of it as long as the west stays out of it now obviously like i said the lithuanians and polish are involved but if the americans if the germans if the french make serious countries in the west get involved you know straw that breaks the camels back but for the moment i think you know. I think the International Image is not quite there at the moment all the change in the coming hours. That people have started drawing parallels with what happened in ukraine in the my town do you see similarities theres very few similarities between this and what happened in ukraine for a start in ukraine it was basically almost entirely but you know politics what is happening in ukraine is that you. Had won an election in 0. 21 sorry nobody disputed. Election i mean nobody did it all he was overthrown basically because there was a you know a power struggle between the west and russia to a degree i mean the west was dangling all kinds of carrots e. U. Association agreements talk of joining nato eventually John Mccain Chris Murphy i think his name is from connecticut and american senator turned up on the might that definite mccain that anyway you saw people like rather small sikorsky carol fields representing you getting involved d Victoria Nuland from the state department the American AmbassadorGeoffrey Pyatt was very prominent thats not there at the moment there arent any foreigners standing on the square in minsk its a different situation now this is more similar to what happened in armenia 2 years ago when an election what actually was an election dispute it was that the president socks that had tried to move to become Prime Minister and people went out in the streets now i mean it is just as much a russian ally has been must go. The results the outcome of that revolution there was no you know intervention from moscow. Things have been much calmer on the streets. Today despite the pro 90 government rallies do you think things could get violent again dont you think were seeing things die down but its hard to know when im not on the ground i mean like everybody else i know im in russia like yourself i mean were watching it on social media on television and reading you know online news sources its hard to know unless you know there were definitely the violence is down and thats a good sign like i said if you notice that the problem is basically who is going to negotiate because like i said 2 of the 3 main Opposition Leaders at the moment are not in the country. Has gone 1st to russia now apparently hes going to poland you know like. Some of the guys are in jail who tried to stand last month and thats the real problem is who is the. Or is it or is it. But who is there to problems theres no real Opposition Leader for him to talk to and theres lots of people on the streets saying they want a rerun of the election but they dont have any real leadership and that plays into look at those hands at the moment prime journalist primadonna would tell us thank you for your time. Other things appear common now in minsk the beginning of the week was marred with unrest which left a demonstrator dead video is now much reportedly showing the moment of the tragedy a warning you might find the footage disturbing and you can see a group of riot police who were just a few meters away from the alleged victim shortly after comes the apparent moment a protester was killed but there is interior ministry had previously claimed the victim or tried to throw an explosive device at officers but it went off in his hand for lets take a look now at how events unfolded during the week. I just take in people that are doing nothing or how to. Have swallowed your few years ago had come out but i want to be even if we have a peaceful calm albeit mr you. Let. Me come march this mass that is going on can you take this time to try. Ok lets talk to. You. About the words the authorities have also been criticized for failing to protect journalists 64 were detained during this week among them reporters working for arties video agency what plea these 30 days behind false police havent 1000 protesters were detained across the country this week the government began releasing them on thursday night promising everyone would be free by friday it was unclear if that actually happened doctors were among those held. What kind of doctors are you youre not doctors i dont know what you are. Werewolves thats the sort of thing they shouted and a lot of swear words that i dont want to repeat they were also saying this when we were 1st held in the street everyone driving by was chopped up person white robes on their knees with. Alexander lukashenko speak at the helm of bellary since 1904 but this years election has been his most challenging one quarter looks at the shift in support. In bellerose having the title go or daddy means youve got the most populist position in the entire post soviet sphere and for the recently reelected president alexander look at shank oh hes held the position for decades. Who shot the russians have to hold on to look even in the most critical situation as a drowning man who catches the straw that you just took my racing to be 90 percent tomorrow who will be with you like we all know it is not for you to decide for. Themselves i envy myself i am the last and only dictator in europe. Im not going to hold this position for a lifetime as soon as the people refuse my services ill take my bag under my arm and im going. On board the populist train before it was cool before politicians like steve bannon and donald trump probably even knew the meaning of the word one of his most recent populist stunts involved the dismissal of bellerose his agricultural minister after the ministers cows failed to gain lucas shank those approval. Why did you bring me here so why now tell Security Service to put you in handcuffs if a person does not understand that this is auschwitz and you put him in charge of the holding who did not understand you were to. Look at shank oh as a man of inspections meetings with bureaucrats and reprimands of government officials when the cameras are watching of course this puts a smile on the faces of ordinary people who struggle daily with bureaucratic red tape its also the main reason why they call it a shame kobach up for many but because also a strong man who created an enclave of the soviet union. Within europe its been a popular stance for years but now look at those image is facing some big problems. Sure look at shank go claims he won the election it seems like the Security Forces are on his side and for a while he only faced small pockets of pro western opposition but based on the brutality used by the police to control the situation arrests made of journalists and the death of a protester it seems like the entire countrys view of the government is definitely turning sour. That its possible lucas shank goes recent anti russia statements alley and made it his main base of support those who want closer cooperation with belarus his eastern neighbor we need to address the Russian Media reduce them not to say you know incidents if you will see you need to get into the situation with dignity you know youll see good we have no gold to discredit the country close to us arresting russian journalists didnt help the situation either. To the west hes always been europes last dictator even look at shankar himself said he knew people would dispute the Election Results whatever the case the belorussian president will need to father more support if he wants to remain at the head of the table a number of countries have condemned while they cold a regular election when the heavy handed response of the police has the latest reaction from europe and the us. I was glad to see the release of some protesters but that certainly hears and the Common Objective is to support the belarus in people to achieve their sovereignty their own freedom the European Union will put forward to the better russian authorities a proposal for e. U. Support in establishing and facilitating a dialogue between the political authorities opposition and Broader Society in view of resolving the Current Crisis ministers also agreed on the need to sanction those responsible for violence repression and the force of a cation of Election Results sanctions of the end of politics the key question now is what kind of policy the has towards by the roots for us the European Union is one of our top priorities. President saying to discuss the situation playing out in his country in a call to Vladimir Putin they agreed it should not be exploited by outside forces some analysts we spoke to are drawing parallels to what happened in ukraine in 2014 while others said dialogue is. There are very strong similarities between what we played out in front of our eyes now in belarus and what happened in ukraine so we had a very similar scenario not a color so attentive reading a successful Color Revolution in yugoslavia the United States aligned in that line of many western countries with whatever happens in the result the last of which when it will be illegitimate we had the same rhetoric coming out of the western capitals as were getting it that the government that was told he couldnt really respond to any protests against