Belarus police detained dozens of protesters on Saturday as thousands gathered in the capital Minsk demanding the release of a jailed opposition leader, news wires reported. Maria Kolesnikova has emerged as a key opposition figure after others were either jailed or forced out of the country, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who challenged President Alexander Lukashenko in the presidential election a month ago.

One of the last remaining members of the Belarusian opposition's Coordination Council at large, lawyer Maxim Znak, was detained by masked men on Wednesday, his colleagues said.

Prominent opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova was detained by Belarusian authorities on Tuesday, a border official said, after thwarting what a Ukrainian government minister described as an attempt to expel her from Belarus.

Security forces in Belarus detained scores of protesters as the authorities launched a crackdown on mass demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko, news wires reported. Nearly a month after an election which Lukashenko’s opponents say he rigged, tens of thousands of people marched through Minsk, many decked out in red-and-white opposition colours and shouting “go away!” and “you’re a rat!”.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered throughout Belarus on Sunday to call for longtime President Alexander Lukashenko to step down, despite security services warning that they would crack down on protests, dpa reported.

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied again in Belarus' capital Friday to protest the disputed re-election of the nation's authoritarian president, while police dispersed university students attempting to show solidarity with peers who were detained earlier in the week, news wires reported. Belarusians have turned out in en masse for nearly four weeks to protest the official election results that gave Lukashenko a sixth term with 80% of the vote.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed travel bans on President Alexander Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian officials on Monday, advancing with sanctions the rest of the EU, news wires reported. The three Baltic states have led calls for the West to take firmer action against Belarusian president, who is accused by opponents and the West of rigging the election on 9 August to prolong his 26-year rule. Lukashenko denies electoral fraud and has said the protesters against him are backed from abroad.

Russia's Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of a Norwegian diplomat in response to a similar move by Norway last week. The ministry said in a statement that its decision was made “in connection with an unfriendly act of Norwegian authorities," who declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata on 18 August.

Police arrested around twenty people protesting the disputed reelection of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday, hours after Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich recounted her meeting with investigators in a criminal probe to the opposition, news wires reported.

Russia’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday it was launching an investigation into the hospitalisation of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over what his allies suspect was a poisoning.