Belarus protesters hold peaceful line with flowers and folk songs

Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters have taken to the streets of Minsk, throwing down a renewed challenge to the

Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has faced sustained discontent over what appeared to be a rigged election result on Sunday.

Four nights of ruthless police violence against protesters was meant to force Belarusians into accepting Lukashenko’s victory, but events on Thursday suggested the response had instead breathed new life into the insurrectionary mood.

“We are here to stop the violence. We will never be violent, we do not want a revolution, we just need Lukashenko to leave,” said Daria, 27, a pharmacist, who was waving a bunch of flowers among a crowd walking through Minsk on Thursday afternoon. “We would like there to be negotiations, but if he was going to negotiate then he would have done so already. I think he just has to leave now.”

Belarusian authorities have detained more than 6,700 people since the vote, often subjecting demonstrators to beatings, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

Lukashenko has dismissed the protesters as unemployed extremists, and state television has shown footage of severely beaten youths offering wide-eyed recantations for taking part in the protests.

Several of those who have been detained in recent days told of widespread beatings and abuse inside holding facilities. In the early hours of Thursday authorities confirmed that a