Lukashenko's opponents organized strikes with the largest protests in the country being recently. As well workers in state-run factories — usually a bastion of support for Lukashenko — have continued to strike.
Crowds of protesters carrying the red-and-white flag of the opposition earlier flooded Independence Square and marched through the capital, Minsk, chanting "freedom" and "we will not forget, we will not forgive" as passing cars honked in support.
Tens of thousands of people massed in central Minsk on Sunday to demand the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who flew over the scene of the banned protest in a helicopter and called the marchers "rats."
The authoritarian leader, shown later clutching an automatic rifle upon landing at his central Minsk residence, has ordered the military into full combat readiness in the face of the biggest challenge to his 26-year rule of the ex-Soviet state.
In solidarity, demonstrators in neighboring Lithuania were forming a human chain from Vilnius to the Belarus border, three decades after residents of the Baltic states joined hands and linked their capital cities to protest Soviet rule.
The European Union has rejected the election results and vowed to sanction Belarusians responsible for ballot fraud and a police crackdown that has seen nearly 7,000 people arrested, with allegations of gruesome torture and abuse in police custody.
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell warned that Belarus should not be allowed to become a "second Ukraine" and said it was necessary to deal with the 65-year-old Lukashenko, Europe's longest serving leader.
Outgoing OSCE chairman Edi Rama also offered to mediate a resolution to the crisis, in a letter obtained by AFP to his successor Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.
