Hundreds sign up for global Belarus solidarity protests
Hundreds of people found in Poland and Lithuania gathered for protests on Saturday to show support for the opposition found in neighbouring Belarus.
They called for the release of a Belarusian dissident who was arrested along with his girlfriend when their trip was diverted to Minsk.
The pair's detention sparked global outrage, and prompted the EU to urge airlines in order to avoid Belarusian airspace.
Protests occurred elsewhere in Europe aswell as in the US and Australia.
Roman Protasevich, 26, and Sofia Sapega, 23, were flying from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday when a fighter jet was first scrambled above Belarus to escort their plane to Minsk airport terminal over a bomb threat which ended up being fake.
They were arrested when the Ryanair plane landed.
"I'm contacting all EU countries and the US to please support us free Roman and Sofia, together with everybody else imprisoned," Mr Protasevich's mom, Natalia, said at a rally in the Polish capital Warsaw.
"We want to reside in a free of charge country, in a region where everyone gets the right to exhibit his beliefs," his daddy, Dmitry, added.
The crowd at the Warsaw rally waved the Belarusian opposition's red and white flag, and held signs that read Support Belarus and Freedom for Belarus.
"Things look really bad now. That is why we want to take action, show those fighting back that they're not by yourself," Natallia Burak, a 35-year-old Belarusian living in the city, told the AFP news agency.
"As a Belarusian, we visit a lot of wild and outrageous factors," another demonstrator added.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been around power for 27 years, has been nicknamed "Europe's last dictator". The 66-year-older features cracked down on dissenting voices, and several opposition figures have already been arrested or fled into exile.
One such figure may be the opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who spoke at a rally found in Lithuania where she's been moving into exile since previous August.
"I believe that you will have changes very soon, you will see new elections, because there may be no alternative way," she told a good masses gathered in the administrative centre, Vilnius. "Belarus won't give up."
Ms Tikhanovskaya and many 100 protesters marched to the Belarusian embassy found in the city.
A similar demonstration also took place in Berlin, while smaller sized protests were observed in a large number of countries including Ukraine, Ireland, and holland.
