Riot police in Belarus have today arrested hundreds of people in protests against President Lukashenko’s rule. Brutal violence was not shunned: the security forces used, among other things, tear gas, rubber bullets, the water cannon and flash grenades, witnesses report. Demonstrators were also beaten. There are reportedly several injuries.
According to Belarusian human rights organization Viasna, 900 people are known to have been detained across the country, most of them in the capital, Minsk.
Also at the memorial site for 31-year-old Raman Bandarenka, an anti-government demonstrator who was violently arrested on Wednesday and a day later died, the police arrested people. The memorial site, where a sea of flowers lay, was also destroyed. In the vicinity, homes were searched by officers looking for demonstrators.
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