More than 10,000 people took to the streets yesterday for the biggest opposition rally this year against Belarus's president, Alexander Lukashenko, the man dubbed "Europe's last dictator". Protesters clashed with police in the capital, Minsk, as the opposition marked the anniversary of the short-lived 1918 Belarus republic, which was crushed by Bolshevik troops. Mr Lukashenko, branded by the United States as Europe's last dictator, has begun to make overtures to the European Union after relations with his former ally Russia collapsed this year in a bitter trade row over oil and gas prices. Popular among rural and elderly voters, Mr Lukashenko says the opposition is led by outcasts who live on foreign donations. Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, yesterday said the EU would form a partnership with Belarus and boost cash aid if it adopted democratic reforms. "The European Union is ready to enter into a full partnership with Belarus on the basis of these values," he said, referring to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
The opposition has said the government's reaction to the rally would be an indication of how serious Mr Lukashenko was about ties with the West.