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Of: TT
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Photo: AP / TT
The demonstration in Minsk on Sunday. More than 700 people were arrested and taken away.
At least 700 people were arrested in connection with the demonstrations in Belarus on Sunday. Many of those arrested were journalists, and the country’s media industry is making an emergency call.
At least 26 people arrested during the protests were journalists and, according to the Interior Ministry, they are suspected of disobedience to the police.
Since the presidential elections, journalists have been arrested more than 230 times in the country, according to three major unions, including the Belarusian Federation of Journalists. In an open letter, they write that an already difficult situation for journalists has turned catastrophic. In more than 50 cases, journalists have been beaten by the judiciary, they write. Some are said to have been subjected to torture and much equipment and materials have been seized or destroyed.
At the beginning of the protests, the authorities blocked access to the internet for a time. One of the largest independent news sources in the country, the Tut.by site, has lost a kind of license required to work as a journalist at major events in the country. In September, the editor-in-chief of the independent news site Nasja Niva was arrested after publishing an article on the violence.
During Sunday’s protests, police used water cannons and fired rubber bullets, according to the human rights organization Vjasna. As in previous protests, there is information about violence. Of the more than 700 detainees, the majority remain in custody pending further information from the judiciary.
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