About 100 protesters in Minsk detained

KYIV, Ukraine — Around 100 people were detained in the Belarusian capital on Sunday during anti-government protests that were prompted by the reelection of the country’s authoritarian leader and continued for over four months.

Crowds of people have taken part in dozens of small rallies scattered all around Minsk — a new tactic used by the opposition instead of one large gathering intended to make it harder for security forces to target the protesters.

Demonstrators carrying red-and-white flags, the symbol of the protest, gathered in groups and marched down residential areas of the city, demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and protesting his government’s violent crackdown on activists and peaceful demonstrators.

“We are marching so that the authorities understand that all crimes, abuse, torture and deaths of activists will be investigated, and people will not forget about it,” Dr. Alexander Minich, who took part in the protest Sunday, told The Associated Press by phone.

Police in Minsk said around 100 protesters have been detained. The Viasna human rights center released the names of nearly 150 people detained in Minsk and other cities, where rallies also took place. Two journalists were detained in the western city of Grodno, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

Mass protests have swept Belarus, an ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million people, ever since official results from the Aug. 9 presidential election gave Lukashenko a landslide victory over his widely popular opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. She and her supporters refused to recognize the result, saying the vote was riddled with fraud.