On 2 March 2006, opposition candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin attempted to enter the third meeting of the All Belarusian People's Assembly, which was hosted by President Lukashenko.

[5] In the build-up to the elections, several Georgians who were part of the OSCE observer team were intercepted by the Belarusian Frontier Guard and placed in custody.

Lukashenko also announced that protests similar to those of the Orange, Rose and Tulip revolutions would not take place in Belarus and stated that "force will not be used" to claim the presidency.

[6] On 19 March, exit polls showed Lukashenko winning a third term in a landslide, amid opposition claims of vote-rigging and fear of violence.

On 24 March, Belarusian police broke up[13] days of protests in central Minsk against President Lukashenko's re-election, detaining about 460 demonstrators in an early hours sweep.

On 29 March, it was reported by Gaseta.ru that opposition leader Kozulin had been arrested and was facing up to 6 years in jail for organizing riots and hooliganism.

[15] According to Moscow News,[16] two journalists of the Belarus state television were allegedly beaten by opposition forces during an unsanctioned rally in Minsk and were hospitalized with severe injuries.

The main opposition leaders had called for the protests to keep up until Saturday, when a major rally is expected, coinciding with the anniversary of the creation of first independent Belarusian Republic in 1918.

[18] Despite this, on Friday night riot police were dispatched to the site of the protest and 377 (460, according to other sources) participants and journalists were arrested, effectively dismantling the demonstration.

In the words of White House spokesman Scott McClellan, "The United States does not accept the results of the election.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda proposed inviting opposition leader Alyaksander Milinkevich to the EU summit.

As his proposal did not succeed he initiated invitation of Milinkevich to the European People's Party meeting that will take place prior the EU summit.

[23][24] On 23 March, American diplomats evacuated[citation needed] Vyacheslav Sivchik, one of the organizers of the opposition meeting, from Oktyabrskaya Square.

"The European council has decided to take restrictive measures against those responsible for the violations of international electoral standards, including President Lukashenko," the Austrian foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, said after the EU summit.

She gave no details, but EU officials said measures being considered included visa bans on those accused of allegedly rigging the poll and possible asset freezes, but not economic sanctions against the former Soviet republic.

Pro-government press and organizations lauded the outcome as a defeat of "orange" political technologies,[28] whereas the liberal opposition traditionally condemned Lukashenko's actions.

On March 26, about ten people from liberal movements and parties, joined by occasional passers-by, attempted to carry out an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Belarusian opposition near the building of the Ministry of International Affairs, but were quickly dispersed by authorities.