MINSK 24 Aug (ANA) - 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. (ANA)

FA/ANA/24 August 2020--------