Belarus Lukashenko: Dozens arrested at mass protests in Belarus

7-09-2020, 05:32

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Police in Belarus have arrested at least 100 people in the capital Minsk and other towns as protests against President Alexander Lukashenko were held for a fourth weekend in a row.

In Minsk, they charged demonstrators near the presidential palace, firing pepper spray and wielding batons.

Tens of thousands of people defied heavy security and rallied in the city.

They want the long-time president to resign after his re-election last month amid allegations of ballot-rigging.

Mass unrest since then has seen at least four people killed and hundreds injured as the government tries to stamp out dissent.

A number of opposition figures have fled the country. On Saturday, activist Olga Kovalkova became the latest to say she had taken refuge in neighbouring Poland amid threats of imprisonment.

Mr Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has accused Western nations of interfering.

Protesters, human rights activists and observers say riot police are brutally suppressing peaceful marches in the former Soviet republic.

Belarus borders Russia, on which it depends heavily for energy and with which it historically has close ties, as well as Ukraine and EU states.

What is the mood in Minsk?

After the Viasna non-governmental organisation reported 130 arrests on Sunday, the Belarusian interior ministry confirmed for Russian news agency Interfax at least 100 detentions across the republic.

Eyewitnesses told Interfax that police began to make arrests in Minsk after the unsanctioned rally ended and people were going home. Video footage on Sunday shows men in plain clothes beating peaceful protesters with batons.

Internal Affairs Minister Yuri Karayev defended the actions of the security forces.

"They talk about the brutality of the Belarusian police, and I want to say this: there are no more humane, restrained and cool-headed police anywhere in the world," he was quoted as saying by the official Belta news agency.

Sunday has become the key day for street demonstrations since the rallies began.

In recent days the security forces - dressed all in black with balaclavas over their faces - targeted university students as they returned from their holidays, dragging some from the streets and university buildings into unmarked minivans.

One protester in Minsk, who gave her name as Lyudmila, told the BBC earlier that the demonstrators were undeterred by the security forces.

"We are definitely not ready to get back to the life we had for many years now," she said.

"We finally feel like we matter because we've been living in apathy for way too long and now we just have this feeling of solidarity and we actually think that - well, I feel personally that - changes already are happening so that's definitely not the time to give up."

Protests have also been reported in other Belarusian cities and towns including Grodno, Mogilev and Gomel.

BBC

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