MINSK, October 11. /TASS/. The number of opposition protest rallies participants detained by the law enforcement in Minsk and other Belarusian cities on Sunday surpassed 300. This information was provided on the website of the Belarusian unregistered Vesna human rights center.

The center has published a list which as of 20:15 Moscow time included the names of 319 detainees. The vast majority of them were detained in Minsk, the rest - in Brest, Bobruisk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Zhlobin, Mogilev, Molodechno.

Some 45 detainees are journalists and photographers who were covering the opposition protest rallies. Among them were TASS correspondents Natalya Fedosenko, Yuri Shamshur, Gavriil Grigorov and Valery Stepchenkov who were released soon after.

Earlier on Sunday, in the Belarusian capital clashes between the protesters and the security forces had occurred. The law enforcement began to detain the protesters, in order to disperse them, water cannons and stun grenades were used.

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.