POLICE FIRE STUN GRENADES AT PROTESTERS
KYIV/MOSCOW Belarusian police used stun grenades against protesters on Sunday as tens of thousands of people headed toward Independence Palace in the capital Minsk demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko resign.
Protesters carrying the red-andwhite flags of the Belarusian opposition movement scattered as loud bangs and flashes lit up the city's streets after nightfall, videos showed.
The police action came hours before the expiration of an ultimatum set by the opposition: Lukashenko must resign by midnight or face a national strike.
Explosions and white smoke filled residential areas as people hid behind vehicles and ran from police, the videos, shared online by news organizations, showed. The videos could not be immediately verified by Reuters.
Law enforcement confirmed that riot control weapons had been used and detentions had taken place, the Russian news agencies TASS and RIA reported.
Human rights group Vesna-96 said 128 people had been detained so far on Sunday, and shared a list of their names online.
An interior ministry spokeswoman said it was too early to say how many people had been injured or detained. “We will only know by the morning if there are any injured people,” Olga Chemodanova was cited by RIA as saying.
Earlier on Sunday, crowds streamed through the capital shouting “strike” and beating drums on the 11th straight weekend of mass protests since a disputed election plunged the country into turmoil.