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Rights Group Says More than 300 Detained in Belarus Protests

RFE/RL's Belarus Service

   Police in Belarus have detained dozens of anti-government demonstrators
   who gathered for the 13th consecutive Sunday of protests to call for
   the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and a new election
   amid unprecedented public resistance following a disputed election in
   August.

   Human rights group Vyasna released a list of 328 people that according
   to the group were detained by security forces on November 8.

   The arrests were made in Minsk, Homel, Vitebsk, Zhlobin, and other
   cities. The group said some of the detainees were later released.

   Minsk city police earlier said that about 10 people were detained over
   "unsanctioned actions."

   There was a heavy police presence from the early morning in Minsk,
   where participants in the March of Democracy waved red-and-white flags
   and umbrellas that have become the symbol of the opposition. Security
   forces blocked several streets and cordoned off areas in central Minsk.

   Access to the Internet has been restricted on mobile phones in the
   capital since the morning. Several subway stations in the city center
   closed an hour before the rally, citing "passenger safety."

   The protests come after police detained dozens of medical professionals
   at an unauthorized protest against Lukashenko on November 7.

   About 60 doctors and other health-care workers who gathered for the
   demonstration on November 7 were taken away to police stations,
   according to the human rights group Vyasna. Most were expected to be
   released shortly.

   Yulia Yarmak was the first of the medical professionals detained,
   according to RFE/RL's Belarus Service. She said police had promised to
   release all detainees except one journalist on November 7.

   Meanwhile, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said on November 8
   that two reporters detained while covering the medics' rally were
   transferred to the Akrestsina prison in Minsk.

   It identified the reporters as Yekaterina Karpitskaya from the Nasha
   Niva and Raman Papkov from the MBKh-Media publications. The association
   said there were at least 14 journalists in custody in Belarus.

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