A large crowd of protesters gathered on Sunday afternoon in central Minsk next to a war memorial and headed towards the presidential palace. The protesters are demanding that the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, step down, accusing him of grossly falsifying the August 9 election results as well as of brutally suppressing the ensuing civil unrest.

The palace, as well as other government buildings, however, remain off-limits as law enforcement maintains a heavy presence in the capital. Police have cut the road off with heavy barrier reinforced with barbed wire and deployed water cannon trucks and even combat armored personnel carriers to the area, footage from the scene shows.

Shortly after the crowds reached the presidential palace, it started raining. Unlike the previous weekend, when the bad weather effectively dispersed the protest, this time the people came prepared and packed umbrellas. Nonetheless, the numbers started to dwindle as the rain intensified.

Tough on a smaller scale, protests have been held in other major cities across the country.

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