Hundreds of demonstrators in Belarus are holding a second night of protests against the election victory of President Alexander Lukashenko. Protesters in the centre of the capital Minsk have been joined by two of the candidates who lost out to Mr Lukashenko in the vote on Sunday - Alexander Milinkevich and Alexander Kozulin. Earlier, the United States backed the Opposition's call for new elections and the European Union said the poll had taken place in a climate of fear. But Sergei Kasyan, a Member of Belarusian Parliament, has dismissed the criticism. "Neither Mr Barroso of the European Commission, nor the European Parliament are in the position to make these kind of pronouncements, let alone the US State Department," he said. "They are baseless. Let them put their own house in order. They're trying to make everyone in the world live according to their norms and principles. Well their principles are not for us Slavs."
| "Us Slavs have no principles. We like being ruled with an iron fist." |