STATE FACTORY WORKERS JOIN PROTESTS AGAINST LEADER

MINSK Workers from state-run industrial plants joined tens of thousands of people on a fifth day of protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, despite a violent crackdown that has prompted the West to consider new sanctions.

Protesters formed human chains and marched in Minsk, joined by at least two television presenters from the tightly-controlled state media who resigned in protest at the violence that followed Lukashenko’s contested re-election.

The protesters accuse the former

Soviet collective farm manager of rigging last Sunday’s presidential election to win a sixth term.

Amid Thursday’s protests, Belarusian law enforcement searched the Minsk offices of Russian internet giant Yandex, the company said.

The company said the motive for the search had not been disclosed and that no equipment or documents had been seized at its two Minsk offices.

Lukashenko has sought better relations with the West amid strained relations with traditional ally Russia.