After a third night of protests in Belarus, the interior ministry says police fired back with live bullets when they came under attack in the south western city of Brest.
Demonstrators with metal rods targeted officers and the police opened fire in self-defence, said the ministry.
There were clashes also reported in Minsk and other cities, following main opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fleeing the country.
A media crew was also attacked by police, who have been accused of brutality.
The protests started hours after Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was awarded victory in Sunday’s presidential vote, which had been condemned by the European Union as “neither free nor fair”.
Lukashenko won 80% of Sunday’s vote, according to election officials, but there were widespread allegations of vote rigging and EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said Belarusians had shown “the desire for democratic change” in the election campaign.
Sweden’s foreign minister said EU foreign ministers would meet on Friday to discuss imposing sanctions on Belarus.
