MINSK, September 24. /TASS/. Protests in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, sparked by the inauguration of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, started to subside after midnight on Thursday following a five-hour standoff between protesters and law enforcement units.

Early on Thursday, law enforcement units managed to push the crowd out of the city’s central districts, where attempts to block roads, create the so-called chains of solidarity and stop vehicles transporting the detainees were reported earlier in the day.

The protestors, who started their rally by marching along the Victors Avenue, started to scatter to nearby blocks as riot police units and interior troops started to make detentions, sometimes in a harsh manner.

According to the unregistered Vesna human rights center, about 200 people have already been apprehended. The Minsk police have so far been unable to name the exact number. Minsk Police Department spokeswoman Natalya Ganusevich told TASS that "detentions still continue.".