English

Some 220 reported arrested during protest in Minsk

Some 220 people were reported arrested as riot police cracked down on anti-government protesters in downtown Minsk on June 22.

Reporters estimated that a few thousand gathered in various places around Kastrychnitskaya Square, which was closed off to the public, on Wednesday evening to stage a weekly "silent" protest inspired by an online campaign called "Revolution through Social Networks."

The groups of protesters were pushed away from the streets adjacent to the square by lines of riot policemen clad in black uniforms. Many were grabbed, bundled into police buses and vans and brought to district police departments across Minsk. According to small business activist Alyaksandr Makayew, policemen used force against some of the protesters.

Police also apprehended four journalists, including BelaPAN's cameraman Pavel Padabed, who was forced to delete videos made during the protest from his camera. All of the reporters were released without charges after hours-long detention.

In a sign that the online campaign has been gathering pace, protests were also staged in all of the five regional capitals and dozens of other cities, even small ones, such as Nyasvizh, Staryya Darohi, Bykhaw, Hlybokaye and Hantsavichy. Arrests were said to have been made in Barysaw, Maladzyechna, Vileyka, Vitsyebsk, Zhodzina, Slutsk, Brest, Hrodna, Mazyr, Vawkavysk, Salihorsk and Kalinkavichy.

More than 240 people were arrested across Belarus during "silent" protests on June 15. All of them were later released without charges.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka revealed at a news conference on June 17 that he was aware of the online campaign. Mr. Lukashenka ridiculed "silent” protests staged across Belarus on June 15, describing a "typical" protester as a guy "of 16 or 17 with a cigarette in his teeth, and some girl, also a smoker, under his left arm like a log." He warned that the authorities would crack down on unsanctioned demonstrations.