Czechs rally in support of Belarus protesters

PRAGUE: Hundreds of Czechs and Belarusians rallied in Prague's historic centre on Sunday to support those protesting at Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's recent election victory.

The crowd chanted "Long live Belarus" and waved banners saying "Free Belarus", "Stop violence" and "Flowers are better than bullets", urging the Belarusian police to stop beating protesters.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called on the EU to take action on Belarus in a tweet on Sunday.

"It must encourage Belarusians to implement a Velvet Revolution, model 1989," he said, referring to the peaceful coup that toppled totalitarian Communist rule in former Czechoslovakia.

In Minsk, tens of thousands of people gathered at the biggest rally since the August 9 election that saw Lukashenko win with more than 80 percent of the vote, according to official results.

"I'm from Belarus and I can't take part in the peaceful rallies in Minsk and other cities across Belarus, so I decided to support Belarus here in the Czech Republic," Stepan Sopro told AFP at the Prague rally.

"We've had this situation for 26 years, we have the last dictator in Europe who won't let the country go, but we're Belarusians, we're a nation that loves freedom," he said, the historic Belarusian red and white flag wrapped around his shoulders.

Protesters in Prague's historic Old Town Square also brandished portraits of Lukashenko's chief rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania following the vote.

Waving the flag before the rally, Galina Navumchik said she could feel peace, happiness and "defence from the dictatorship and injustice we now have at home" under the flag.

"We are here so that the entire Europe, the whole world supports Belarusian people and so we can have freedom and free will forever," she told AFP.