MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. More than 200 people have been detained during protest rallies organized by the Belarusian opposition on Sunday, the Vesna human rights center reported on its website.
The list of those detained in being constantly updated. Now, it has 207 names. Most of the people on the list were detained in Minsk. Detentions were also reported from Brest, Mogilev, Grodno, Soligorsk, Bobruisk, and Vitebsk. Thus, among those detained are 16 journalists and Olga Shparaga, a member of the opposition Coordination Council. Most of the journalists were released after an identity check, but five are still in custody.
Nationwide demonstrations have engulfed Belarus following the August 9 presidential election. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome, and left Belarus for Lithuania. After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police. The current unrest is being cheered on by the opposition’s Coordination Council, which has been beating the drum for more protests. In response, the Belarusian authorities have castigated the ongoing turmoil and demanded that these unauthorized demonstrations be stopped.