In a secretly held event closed off to the public, President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for his sixth consecutive term in office. In the latest wave of protests that have been sweeping the streets of Minsk and other major Belarusian cities, thousands of demonstrators took the streets following the surprise announcement. Over 150 protesters were arrested during clashes between police and protesters, with reports of tear gas being used. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, former election rival to Lukashenko who now is in exile in Europe called the inauguration a “farce”. A picture of the secretive event was obtained by the Russian language Belarusian news agency TUT.BY and sent out on Twitter in the form of this tweet .

Translation of Twitter post: “Photograph from the inauguration of Lukshenko, which began without announcement or television broadcast”