Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Belarus yesterday as they sought to keep the pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko over his contested re-election. In the capital Minsk, Lukashenko's critics staged a number of scattered protests across the city, with some groups numbering a few dozen participants and others a few hundred. The Viasna rights group said more than 30 people were detained in Minsk and other cities. Since Lukashenko's disputed re-election to a sixth term in August, Belarus has been caught in its most serious political crisis in modern history, with protesters taking to the streets and authorities cracking down on the opposition.