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Interior Ministry spokeswoman Volha Chemadanova told the Interfax law firm that law enforcement officers had detained more than 100 people.
“According to the latest information available to me, received before 4 pm (local, 3 pm Lithuanian time), more than 100 people were taken to the territorial divisions of the Ministry of the Interior due to violations of administrative law, he noted.” They are isolated pickets and other violations of public order. “
Ms. Chemadanova added that there were no massive protests in the country, as requested by the opposition.
Mass demonstrations in Belarus began last August after Lukashenko was declared the winner of the presidential election, which the opposition and Western diplomats consider false.
But the protests were put down through the winter, and the government cracked down on its participants. Thousands have been arrested since August, several protesters have been killed and hundreds have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Telegram, a platform that mobilizes and coordinates protesters, called on NEXTA this week to launch a “second wave of protests” on Saturday.
According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, until 4 pm 30 minutes. At least 15 people, including five journalists, were detained by the forces of order in various cities of the country at local time (3:30 pm).
In Minsk, opposition supporters planned to gather in the center of the capital until early afternoon, but were blocked by militias who blocked several streets and one of the main squares. This was reported by a reporter for the AFP news agency.
Photos disseminated on social media and published by local media show the city center protected by military vehicles.
The news portal Tut.by reported that officials in the capital had arrested its editors Han Kaltygin and Halin Vlasik. The latter was detained in one of the dining rooms near Bangalore Square.
The Nasha Niva news portal, for its part, reported that agents from Bangalore Square had arrested its editor-in-chief Jahor Marcinovich, photographer Nadze Buzhan and journalist Kaciaryna Karpicki. In addition, the arrest of Natalia Dulina, a member of the main list of the Opposition Coordinating Council, has been reported.
Earlier this month, the court sentenced the portal’s journalist to 6 months in prison for revealing leaked medical records refuting a law enforcement claim that a protester who died in police custody had been intoxicated with alcohol.
NEXTA on Saturday afternoon called on protesters to regroup and organize fragmented protests in their cities.
Protesters gathered in isolated rallies on Thursday as the Belarusian opposition celebrated Freedom Day, the 1918 anniversary of independence. According to Viasna, the militia detained at least 176 people a day.
Despite the sanctions imposed by the European Union for the repression, Lukashenko and his colleagues are firmly committed. Since 1994, 10 million. the country’s leader with an iron fist claims to have endured a “revolution” driven by the West.
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