Protests in Belarus focus on spot where demonstrator died

Thousands of demonstrators in Belarus gared Saturday at spot in capital where a protester died in clashes with police, calling for authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to resign after 26 years in power.

It was seventh consecutive day of large protests against results of Aug. 9 presidential election in which election officials say Lukashenko won a sixth term in office. Opposition supporters believe figures have been manipulated.

Despite harsh police action against protesters, including detention of some 7,000 people, demonstrations have swelled into largest and most sustained protest wave since Lukashenko took power in 1994.

Lukashenko and Russian President Vlimir Putin discussed protests in a call Saturday, first publicly kwn direct contact between two leers since election. A Kremlin statement said Putin and Lukashenko both expressed hope for a quick resolution of tensions.

“It is important that se problems are t used by destructive forces aimed at causing injury to cooperation of two countries in framework of union state,” Kremlin said.

Russia and Belarus reached an agreement in 1997 about closer ties between neighboring ex-Soviet countries in a union that stopped short of a full merger, although that has collided with recent disputes between countries and Luksashenko's suspicions that Putin's government wants to absorb Belarus.

A funeral was held Saturday for Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester who died Monday in capital of Minsk under disputed circumstances. Belarusian police said he died when an explosive device he intended to throw at police blew up in his hand.

But his partner, Elena German, told Associated Press that when she saw his body in a morgue on Friday, his hands showed dam and he h a perforation in his chest that she believes is a bullet wound.

About 5,000 demonstrators gared Saturday in area where Taraikovsky died. y laid a mass of flowers in tribute, piling into a mound about 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall, as passing cars blared ir horns.

“It's awful to live in a country where you can be killed at a peaceful protest. I will leave, if power isn't changed,” said 30-year-old demonstrator Artem Kushner.

brutal suppression of protests in Belarus has drawn harsh criticism in West. European Union foreign ministers said Friday that y rejected election results in Belarus and began drawing up a list of officials in Belarus who could face sanctions over ir role in crackdown.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday at a news conference in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart that "We've said elections mselves (in Belarus) weren't free. I've spent last days consulting with our European partners.

“Our common objective is to support Belarusian people. se people are demanding same things that every human being wants,” Pompeo said.