MORE THAN 200 WOMEN DETAINED AT MINSK PROTEST

Anti-government marches ongoing since Aug. election

Police in the capital of Belarus cracked down sharply Saturday on a women’s protest march demanding the authoritarian president’s resignation, arresting more than 200 including an elderly woman who has become a symbol of the six weeks of protest that have roiled the country.

More than 2,000 women took part in the march in Minsk. Such anti-government marches have become a regular feature of the unprecedented wave of large, persistent protests that began after the Aug. 9 presidential election. Officials said President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in office with 80 percent support in that vote but opponents and some poll workers say the results were rigged.

During Lukashenko’s 26 years in office, he has consistently repressed opposition and independent news media.

Large demonstrations have been held in cities throughout the country and some Sunday protests in Minsk have attracted crowds estimated at up to 200,000.

The human rights group Viasna said more than 200 people were arrested in Saturday’s march.

“There were so many people detained that lines formed at the prisoner transports,” Viasna member Valentin Stepanovich told The Associated Press.

Among those detained was Nina Bahinskaya, a 73-year-old former geologist whose defiance and tart tongue have made her a popular figure in the protests. Many of the women in Saturday’s march chanted “We’re walking!” referring to when police told Bahinskaya that she was taking part in unauthorized protest and she snapped back “I’m taking a walk.”

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s main opponent in the election, praised the women’s march in a video statement from Lithuania, where she took refuge after the election.