MINSK, Dec. 19 - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko appeared headed for another five-year term in a controversial election Sunday that was quickly followed by violent late-night street clashes and accusations of vote fraud from human rights groups.

Final results announced by the state's central election commission indicated that the autocratic 56-year-old leader, who adheres to a bygone Soviet economic model, received 79.7% of the vote, after 100% was counted, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Opposition leaders called on their supporters to launch a protest in downtown Minsk's Oktyabrskaya Square before firm results were announced. Candidate Vladimir Neklyayev said he and supporters were ambushed on the way to the square and beaten by masked riot police.

"They blocked the street with a traffic police car and attacked us on all sides, wearing black uniforms and black masks," Neklyayev, of the Speak the Truth movement, said in a phone interview. "They beat me up on the head with a stick two times and when I went down they continued kicking me with their boots."

"I lost consciousness for a little while and when I came to I felt blood pouring all over my face," he added. "Then one of them kneeled near me, felt the pulse in my wrist and said: 'He will live.' "

The Belarusian Interior Ministry reported that unarmed officers were attacked by a drunken crowd and injured, according to the Interfax news agency.

Several thousand protesters who reached the square chanted anti-Lukashenko slogans and some were arrested by police when they hurled rocks and smashed windows at government buildings.

A source in the Interior Ministry told Interfax that at least two presidential candidates were arrested as riot organizers. Neklyayev's wife told the news agency that her husband was taken away by police from the hospital.