Some 586 people, including at least 40 journalists, were detained by Belarusian security forces on Sunday, a day after president Alexander Lukashenko met with detained opposition leaders.

Belarus has been rocked by weeks of after Lukashenko, who has led the country since 1994, won a landslide victory in the August 9 election. The vote was denounced by EU and US officials, and forced Lukashenko to look to Moscow for support.

The opposition says that Lukashenko’s main challenger, , was the rightful winner and wants new elections. Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the vote, won only about 10% to Lukashenko’s 80%, according to the election committee.

On Saturday, Lukashenko met with jailed opposition leaders to discuss plans for constitutional reforms.

Tikhanouskaya later said that Lukashenko had “acknowledged the existence of political prisoners whom he used to call criminals”.

“We will continue to march peacefully and persistently and demand what is ours: new free and transparent elections”, Tikhanouskaya wrote on her Telegram channel on Sunday.