MINSK, December 6. /TASS/. More than 69 people were detained during Sunday’s protests in Minsk and other Belarusian cities, the Vesna unregistered human rights center reported.
The list of those detained posted on Vesna’s website at 16:00 Moscow time includes 64 names. Most of them were detained in Minsk. Detentions were also reported from Grodno, Brest, Smolevichi. Among those detained are two journalists, BelaPAN reporters Marina Khorevich and Sergei Lyudkevich. Two correspondents from the news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax-West were released after identity checks.
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.