Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko was already shaken by the time he heard an angry worker at the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant shout out that he should just "shoot himself." 

A day after the largest nationwide protests in the country's modern history, Lukashenko had helicoptered into the factory on Monday to secure support among a constituency long considered to be his base, but instead a scripted speech had been overwhelmed with chants of "resign."

Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm boss, approached the worker who had heckled him. Trying to control his rage, but his voice rising nonetheless, he exploded when he saw the person standing before him holding up a mobile phone. 

"Put down your phone!" he demanded.