Massive anti-government demonstrations in Belarus again rounded up more than 700 people over the weekend. The figure comes from the Belarusian Ministry of the Interior, which further announced that from now on police may use firearms to quell the demonstrations.
According to authorities, some 570 detainees were detained this weekend and the rest have now been released. Human rights organization Viasna says that among the detainees are also a large number of journalists.
Belarusians have been taking to the streets for two months to demand the departure of President Lukashenko. He was reelected in early August, but it is generally believed that this was accompanied by widespread electoral fraud. Many thousands of people have been arrested during the demonstrations in recent weeks.
Yesterday there were tens of thousands of people across the country, according to observers, although Belarusian authorities keep it at 11,000. The police used, among other things, tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters. In some places brutal violence was again used:
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