Detentions resume in Belarus

Moscow, Sept. 1: Belarusian authorities on Tuesday resumed detaining protesters in the capital, Minsk, where students took to the streets demanding the resignation of the country’s authoritarian leader after an election the opposition denounced as rigged.

Several dozen students on Tuesday held pickets outside their universities and marched through the city centre on the fourth week of mass protests rocking the country. Belarusian media reported that at least 18 students were detained as police moved to break up the crowd. President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the protesters as Western puppets and bristled at the demands for him to step down after 26 years in power or start a dialogue with the opposition.

After a ferocious crackdown on demonstrators in the first days after the August 9 vote that caused international outrage, his government has avoided large- scale violence against demonstrators and sought to end the protests with threats and the selective jailing of activists. Several organisers of strikes at top industrial plants have been detained.

On Tuesday, people started gathering near several large plants in support of the striking workers. Belarusian prosecutors have opened a criminal probe against the opposition Coordination Council, accusing its members of undermining the country’s security. Last week, the country’s courts handed 10- day jail sentences to two council members and summoned several others for questioning.