Belarus President Lukashenko refuses to relent amid protests

President Alexander Lukashenko is the king ofBelarus. Europe's last dictator is not ready to give up his throne and by winning his sixth presidential election he is set to extend his 25-year rule but the Opposition says the election was rigged.

Western superpowers are backing popular opinion. Protesters stormed the streets demanding an end to Lukashenko's rule. In the midst of all this, the Opposition leader fled to Lithuania.A dictator stays in power by using threats and violence, Lukashenko is no different.

For seven hours, the Opposition leader in Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was in a meeting with government officials after that she went missing. Svetlana had gone to lodge a complaint against the election result. Alexander Lukashenko has grabbed the presidential seat for a sixth consecutive term. He has kept tight control over Belarus since 1994. The Opposition says Lukashenko rigged the election.

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Svetlana who is a former English teacher had emerged from obscurity to threaten his rule. Her rallies drew some of the biggest crowds since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. No one knows what transpired at her meeting with election officials but after coming out she fled to neighbouring Lithuania.

The government confirmed the news, soon Svetlana posted a video on Youtube saying she faced a difficult choice.

"I know that many people will understand me, but many will blame and hate me but you know, god forbid that you may face such a choice that I faced," she said.

Svetlana's campaign team says she was forced to leave and she chose life over politics. Her children were in Lithuania and her husband is in government detention one among the hundreds of anti-government figures arrested in the run-up to the election.

The anger against Lukashenko's methods boiled over after the election results were announced. People stormed the streets demanding Lukashenko's resignation as police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades and used batons to disperse thousands of people.

The protesters set up barricades and threw Molotov cocktails in defence. At least 3,000 protesters were arrested with half of them in the capital city of Minsk. President Lukashenko says they are sheep acting under the orders of foreign actors.

"There were calls from Poland, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic. They controlled our, excuse me, sheep. Protesters do not understand what they are doing. They are already coming under someone's control," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko wants no foreign interference, but he is facing the heat. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the election in Belarus was not free or fair. The European Union too holds the same opinion.

Germany has asked the EU to reimpose sanctions. Belarus suffered economic sanctions until Lukashenko agreed to release political prisoners in 2015 but Lukashenko has powerful friends. Authoritarian leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were the first to congratulate him after the election victory.

Now an internet blackout has left protesters in the dark with Svetlana in exile the road ahead is without light.