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More than 100 protesters were detained in Minsk as opposition activists renew calls on the public to ramp up anti-government demonstrations. /AFP
Over 100 protesters were detained in Belarus on Saturday, including three editors of online news platforms, in fresh protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.
Police surrounded the site of a planned demonstration in central Minsk on Saturday, closing the roads leading to the site.
But despite no large-scale demonstrations taking place there, more than 100 people were detained during the course of the day, a spokeswoman for the Belarus Interior Ministry told Russian news agency RIA.
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Videos on social media and Belarus opposition media channels showed police officers violently detaining people at the capital's central square and in other parts of the city.
"Over 100 people have been transported to [police stations] for administrative violations," the ministry's Olga Chemodanova told RIA.
"These were cases of one-person pickets and other public disturbances," she said, adding that despite the opposition's call, there were no major protests on Saturday.
Police in Belarus detained dozens of protesters and at least five journalists. /AFP
Among those detained were Anna Kaltygina and Galina Ulasik, editors at opposition news outlet TUT.by, whose channel on the Telegram messenger app has more than 400,000 followers.
The editor-in-chief of another news outlet, Nasha Niva, with 90,000 Telegram readers, was also detained at the square, along with a photographer.
Both platforms regularly share videos of police brutality filmed by its followers, making them a significant source of information on anti-government protests in Belarus.
Such demonstrations have became a weekly fixture in Minsk and beyond, following claims that Lukashenko rigged the country's August elections. Following a two-month lull, opposition activists have renewed calls on the public to ramp up protests.
Belarus authorities cautioned that anyone taking part in the actions was liable to criminal prosecution.
Source(s): AFP
