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Some 40 people arrested after Chernobyl anniversary demonstration

 

Some 40 people were arrested by police after a traditional march and rally held by opposition forces in Minsk on April 26 to mark the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, said a human rights group called Vyasna.

The arrested people were brought to the Savetski and Tsentralny district police departments. It was not immediately clear how many of them had been charged.

Malady Front members Mikhail Muski and Raman Vasilyew were charged with disorderly conduct. Mikalay Dzemidzenka, another activist of the opposition youth group, was said to have been arrested at the Maskowskaya subway station, miles away from the route of the march and the rally's venue.

Valyantsina Dvarakova, who displayed the historically national and now banned white-red-white flag in her apartment's balcony as the demonstrators were passing beneath, was subsequently charged with violating mass event rules. Police arrested the young woman in her home and brought her to the Savetski district police department, where she had her fingerprints taken and was filmed. She was released afterward. //BelaPAN