About 15,000 protesters waving banners and flags insisted last night they would come out on the streets of the Belarus capital, Minsk, every night until there were fresh elections.
Election monitors yesterday reported widespread violations in the Belarus presidential election as opposition supporters gathered for a second night of protest in Minsk. President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected with 82 per cent of the vote on Sunday.
"We want new elections, properly monitored elections," said Dimitri, a 21-year-old history student as he stood in the freezing October Square. "We hope that Europe can see this."
One young woman, Violet (21), standing nearby removed the brown scarf covering her face. "Tell your readers, if they are believers, to pray for us," she said. "We have been experiencing injustice for a long time," she told me. "It's very important that we be heard now."
She also admitted being frightened by President Lukashenko's threat to "tear the heads off [ the protesters] like ducklings". "There are men in the crowd taking photographs of us and I don't want to be in trouble with the university. I want to get my diploma," she said. "That is why I am wearing the scarf."
"Belarus wants to be in Europe," said another Dimitri (19). "We hope that Europe can see this." He said many protesters were frightened of attack by the police, but that they were angry at the government's iron rule. "I'm so tired to be afraid every time," he said.
Dimitri said he had friends who had been involved in the election count, and they told him of massive fraud. "They told me there would be a big pile of votes for Milinkevic and a small pile for Lukashenko, but they were ordered to simply change the piles. There is a simple solution. Hold another election, a fair one, and let us see the results."
Claims of a repeat of Ukraine's Orange Revolution by protest organisers were exaggerated, though, with the 15,000-strong crowd made up of mostly young students.
There is no doubting the idealism of these young people, gathered for a second night amid sub-zero temperatures. Nonetheless, their numbers are small compared to the half-a-million people who poured on to the streets last winter when neighbouring Ukraine staged its pro-democracy Orange Revolution. Most people in Minsk stayed away, and while some cars hooted their horns in support, most drove on by. "I am happy with the election, everything should be calm," said one pensioner nearby, reflecting the attitude of many that prefer the certainty of Mr Lukashenko's rule to the chaos the media tells them will unfold if the opposition is elected.
The European Union yesterday condemned the election as neither free nor fair and EU foreign ministers said they would impose extra sanctions on Belarus, possibly including a visa ban on some officials.