Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, has responded to growing calls for his resignation by releasing footage of himself wearing body armour and brandishing an assault rifle.
Protests have erupted in the country for 15 days, with around 200,000 people amassing in Minsk’s Independence Square in the latest demonstrations to call for him to go amid widespread accusations of election-rigging.
In an apparent display of strong-arm propaganda, state-funded news agency Belta released footage of the president in Minsk, talking to riot police while holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Dressed in the black uniform of the nation’s riot police – a force he is accused of using as a tool of political repression – he was accompanied by heavily armed bodyguards, reportedly including his 15-year-old son and preferred heir Kolya.
Belarusians first began to take to the streets on 9 August when the 65-year-old was handed his sixth term in office by officials who said he had won with 80 per cent of the nation’s votes – a figure observers and opponents say is not credible.
Despite the iron fist with which Mr Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic, demonstrations of an unprecedented scale and duration have continued across the country.
Earlier this month, some 7,000 people were arrested at protests, with many badly beaten by police in a show of force that appeared to only intensify the scale of the rallies.
Additional reporting by agencies
