Arrests of those who gathered for the opposition rally started in Minsk: security is being strengthened



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Witnesses told the Interfax news agency that there are minibuses with tinted windows in the center of the city, transporting so-called mobile groups.

These minibuses stop alongside opposition supporters holding white and red flags and attracting small groups to a protest in the city center and making arrests.

As reported, some 15,000 people have already gathered for the march. people, but the number of protesters continues to grow.

The most important arrests took place near the Partizanskaya subway station.

The arrests continue.

According to an Interfax correspondent, Minsk residents, wearing the national symbols of white and red used by the opposition, gather in groups in sleeping areas and head towards the city center.

A large column of people is moving toward Partizan Avenue from the side of the Dinamo stadium, and the drivers greet them by pressing an audible signal.

Large numbers of opposition supporters gathered at the entrances to Oktiabrskaya Street, home to Minsk’s popular “creative zone” with bars, designer shops and cafes.

Strengthen security

Meanwhile, security measures were tightened in central Minsk on Sunday and security units and teams were transferred to the city center.

In the morning, Oktiabrskaya Square, where the security forces were on duty, was closed, and close by, near the presidential administration, about ten pieces of equipment were brought in: military trucks, buses, water cannons.

Law enforcement officers are on duty in front of the State Security Committee building on Dzerzhinsky Square, and traffic on Komsomolskaya Street is restricted.

On Avenida Independencia, the security forces have blocked some steps to the patios and control the streets surrounding the avenue, and the plaza itself, as always, is fenced off with a metal fence.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Volha Cemodanova said on Sunday that 58 people had been detained during opposition protests in Belarus the day before.

Belarus, with 9.5 million. population, historic protests against Lukashenko’s regime have subsided since the presidential elections on August 9, when authorities officially announced that the longtime leader had defeated the popular opposition candidate, 38-year-old Sviatlan Cichanouskaya.

With the expansion of the protest movement, there have been large-scale demonstrations for the past two months. Approximately 100,000 people took to the streets every Sunday. or more people.

Further marches in the capital Minsk are planned for S. Cichanouskaja, who was granted asylum in Lithuania, after announcing that Lukashenko must resign from power before October 25. An opposition leader warned that a devastating general strike would otherwise be launched.

Cichanouskaya, who is seen as the real winner of the August elections, also said that Lukashenko must release political prisoners and stop “state terror” against peaceful protesters.

Thousands of people have been arrested in Belarus during this wave of unrest, several have been killed in militia clashes with protesters, and there have been reports of horrific human rights abuses in prisons and detention centers. Many detainees said officials tortured, beat and humiliated them.

The militia admitted to using water cannons and incendiary grenades against protesters, but the use of combat ammunition would mark a major escalation in a clash between opposition protesters and the Lukashenko regime that lasted more than two months.

Earlier this week, militia officials claimed that the protests were slowing down but becoming more radical, and warned that law enforcement would use lethal weapons “if necessary.”



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