MINSK, August 28. /TASS/. Belarusian law enforcement officers detained 264 people in Minsk on Thursday, including several dozen journalists who covered an opposition rally on Independence Square, the Viasna human rights center said on Friday.
More than ten journalists were earlier apprehended on Minsk’s Svobody (Freedom) Square.
Media representatives, with the exception of a few people, were released. Administrative protocols on their participation in an unauthorized event were drawn up against 4 journalists. It is assumed that legal proceedings will be initiated against them as well as other individuals detained during the rally on Independence Square.
According to the human rights center, there are more than 60 criminal cases in the courts of Minsk’s Zavodskoi, Frunzensky and Sovetsky districts opened under Section 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences ("Violation of the order of organizing or holding mass events").
Belarus held its presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission’s data, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won 80.10% of the vote, whereas Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered to be his key rival, garnered 10.12% of the ballot. Subsequently, she refused to recognize the outcome of the polls. After the results of exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests flared up in downtown Minsk and other cities. In the early days they were accompanied by clashes between protesters and police.