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According to the Reuters news agency, the human rights organization Viasna says that so far 70 people have been arrested in connection with the protest.
The Belarusian website tut.by reports that tens of thousands of people are taking part in the celebration today and that the police are taking a hard line against the protesters. Internet will be partially down in the capital, Minsk, and some of the metro stations will be blocked.
The rebel police also installed metal fences and deployed people around various places where protesters had previously gathered.
AUTHORITY STRIKE: Heavily armed rebel police block parts of central Minsk.
Belarusian website Nexta Live reports that protesters are gathering in front of the presidential palace in Minsk. The rebel police at full throttle, supported by armored vehicles and water cannons, have surrounded the palace. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, taking hundreds of protesters away by truck.
“I want new and fair elections,” 28-year-old protester Nikita Sazanovich told AFP.
“Lukashenko must resign,” said Nikolai Dyatlov, a 32-year-old protester.
This is the fourth Sunday in a row that the Belarusian opposition is mobilizing large crowds in Minsk and other cities in the country.
Pressure on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is mounting, but the large-scale strike called by opposition leaders has not received much support.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania after the presidential elections, speaking in a video link to the UN Security Council the day before yesterday.
There he requested that the UN send a commission to Belarus to investigate the police violence to which the protesters have been subjected.
Arrests continue
In the last week, according to local media, the Belarusian authorities have arrested dozens of students and activists who have participated in protest marches.
DON’T BE AFRAID: Several thousand women took part in a protest march in Minsk yesterday.
On Saturday, several thousand women participated in a protest march in Minsk, shouting “do not touch our children”.
One of the opposition leaders, Olga Kovalkova, has sought refuge in Poland. She says she was threatened with a long prison term if she refused to leave Belarus.
The security forces transferred her to a border post, where she was allowed to travel by bus to the neighboring country.
UN condemnation
According to the BBC, Anais Marin, the UN Special Representative for Belarus, said last month that the presidential elections were “completely rigged” and that “the votes of the people were stolen.”
SUPERVISION: President Lukashenko reinstates the rebel police against opposition sweeteners.
Photo: AP
He accuses the Belarusian police of being behind the torture and refers to a 16-year-old boy who was beaten so hard that he was left in a coma.
“The authorities must release all those arbitrarily arrested,” Marin said, adding that the Belarusian government was waging “a mad war against its own people.”
Russian support
Last Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Misjustin visited Minsk, where he met with President Alexander Lukashenko and other Belarusian leaders.
The Russian side said that significant progress had been made in developing cooperation between the two countries.
STRENGTHEN COOPERATION: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Misjustin (left) met yesterday with President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
Photo: Alexander Astafyev
Lukashenko will soon be in Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, and the talks in Minsk were part of the preparations for it.
President Putin has previously said that a Russian police force is ready to intervene in the neighboring country, should the situation spiral out of control.
The two countries are also planning a major military exercise on Belarusian soil in the fall.
