Authorities in Belarus apprehended at the very least 260 protesters and also 17 journalists Thursday night, human rights lobbyists said as resistance rallies continued greater than two weeks after the country’s contested election.
Belarusians have actually required to the streets every day given that the Aug. 9 vote in which President Alexander Lukashenko declared a landslide success. The days right away following the vote saw a violent cops crackdown with thousands of demonstrators wounded.
Belarus’ Vesna human rights group noted at the very least 263 names on its site of protesters who were apprehended on Thursday while taking part in demos in main Minsk.
A separate list names 17 reporters, including 4 from worldwide news firms Reuters as well as The Associated Press, who had actually intended to cover the set up objections. AFP reported that they were taken to a police station for “identity checks.”
” They started releasing the journalists after 9 p.m. after forcing them to delete images on their cameras and phones. Those that decline are being kept at the terminal,” Vesna said.
BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg stated in a tweet that he and his team were additionally detained for “paper checks” Thursday evening.
” A clear attempt to interfere with insurance coverage of occasions in Belarus,” Rosenberg tweeted.
The arrests came hrs after Russian President Vladimir Putin stated he had actually developed a book group of police officers ready to be deployed in Belarus if “the scenario leaves control.”
Complying with Putin’s statement, NATO urged Russia to avoid of the situation, while Belarus’ western neighbor Poland claimed Russian treatment would breach worldwide legislation.
The Belarusian opposition’s coordination council, which was developed to look after the calm shift of power to resistance leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, said it was unacceptable to form army units outside Belarus for use inside the country.
” Previously, the current head of state has actually repeatedly mentioned that international interference in Belarusian events was unacceptable,” it stated in a declaration.