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Opposition candidate Tikhanovskaya calls on Belarusian protesters to leave the streets

She said it in a video address
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MINSK, August 11. /TASS/. Belarusian presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled for Lithuania on Tuesday, has called on her supporters to respect law, refrain from clashing with the police and stay at home.

"Belarusians, I call for prudence and respect to law. I don’t want bloodshed and violence. I am asking you not to clash with the police, not to take to the streets, not to risk your lives. Please, take care of yourself and your near and dear," she said in a video address posted on the tut.by portal.

She thanked the Belarusian nationals for taking part in the election, noting that "the Belarusian people have made their choice."

It was reported earlier that Tikhanovskaya had left Belarus for Lithuania. In her video address, she said that it was her own decision.

Meanwhile, Maria Kolesnikova, member of Tikhanovskaya’s team, said during a press conference on Tuesday that the Belarusian opposition candidate’s address might have been recorded under pressure.

"Tikhanovskaya’s call not to go out on the streets may have been done under pressure. For three hours, Svetlana remained at one of the offices of the Central Election Commission with two high-ranking members of the law enforcement. This message was recorded at that time," Kolesnikova said. The political activist did not state with certainty that the video had been recorded under pressure, however, she did not rule out such a possibility.

Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to the preliminary results provided by the Belarusian Central Election Committee, incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got 80.08% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his main opponent, came in second with 10.09%. She stated that she didn’t recognize these results, considering herself the elected head of state, and filed a complaint with the Central Election Committee. After exit poll results were announced in the evening of August 9, protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other regions of the country, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement forces. As a result, according to the republic’s Interior Ministry, about 3,000 people were detained, dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.