Police in Belarus yesterday raided the homes and offices of more than 20 journalists, rights defenders and trade union members, investigators and activists said, as part of a probe into mass protests. Belarus was gripped by months of demonstrations against the rule of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko after he claimed an overwhelming victory in an August election the opposition said was rigged. The authorities snuffed out the protest movement in the ex-Soviet country by detaining thousands of people in a crackdown that left at least four demonstrators dead and several independent journalists facing years behind bars.