From my admittedly relatively uneducated perspective as someone on the outside:

Lukashenko is (or was) another one of Putin's guard dogs, like Kadyrov in Chechnya. His government operated at Putin's pleasure. Recently Putin has seemed to cut him loose and left him completely without support. Why Putin would do such a thing is unclear, though it might be COVID related. I imagine COVID is running rampant through Russia, as they closed their borders VERY late into the pandemic and their quarantine measures were very spotty or non-existent. Anyway, if Lukashenko still had Putin's support, these demonstrations would have been slapped down before they even got started.

I think it stands to reason that whoever replaces Lukashenko isn't going to be gaining office by any measure of merit. Belarus is a client state of Russia, and no one is going to rule that state without Putin's approval, as Russia in general is very aggressive in defending their own sphere of influence, small though it may be, and a simple change in leadership isn't going to change their client state status, which means the status quo for Belarus won't change, no matter who the leader ends up being.

From my admittedly relatively uneducated perspective as someone on the outside:

Lukashenko is (or was) another one of Putin's guard dogs, like Kadyrov in Chechnya. His government operated at Putin's pleasure. Recently Putin has seemed to cut him loose and left him completely without support. Why Putin would do such a thing is unclear, though it might be COVID related. I imagine COVID is running rampant through Russia, as they closed their borders VERY late into the pandemic and their quarantine measures were very spotty or non-existent. Anyway, if Lukashenko still had Putin's support, these demonstrations would have been slapped down before they even got started.

I think it stands to reason that whoever replaces Lukashenko isn't going to be gaining office by any measure of merit. Belarus is a client state of Russia, and no one is going to rule that state without Putin's approval, as Russia in general is very aggressive in defending their own sphere of influence, small though it may be.