Thousands of citizens on the street with a message for Putin's friend: Fuck off.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets again, gathering in small groups through Minsk, a new tactic by government opponents who want to make police work more difficult, reports the Associated Press.

Minsk police said they had arrested more than 300 people, while the human rights group Vesna published the names of 189 detained persons in Minsk and other major cities.

Protesters wore banners, where, among other things, they wrote: “give a gift to the Belarusites: Get out of here and turn to Lucas. They shouted “We believe! We can! We'll win! ”

At least four journalists were arrested today in Minsk and the town of Grodno, the Belarus Association of Journalists said.

Police in Minsk were patrolling roads with unmarked vehicles today to distinguish protesters, the AFP reports.

Ahead of the protests in Minsk, police raised the water cannons in downtown town this morning and blocked access to main squares, subway stations and state institutions. Internet access with mobile phones is restricted across the country.

Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania immediately after the elections to avoid arrest, said any protest was “a reminder that Belarusers would not surrender”.

“We will not allow violations of our rights or close our eyes to the crimes,” said Tikhanovskaya, who became Lucas' main rival in the presidential election following the arrest of other prominent opposition figures.

Belarus has been hit by a political crisis since presidential elections on August 9th, when mass antigovernmental protests began throughout the country, initiated by official voting results, under which Lukashenko won more than 80 per cent of the vote. Lucas' opponents claim the elections had been stolen.

Despite the authorities' efforts to eliminate demonstrations by arresting and suppressing demonstrators and activists, mass protests were not extinguished after more than three and a half months. The most massive protests occur Sunday, when tens of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets. One week there were 200,000 people.

Since the beginning of the demonstrations in August, at least four people have died either in protest or after the arrest. More than 20,000 protesters were arrested, of which, according to human rights groups, thousands were beaten.