BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/03/2006

Belarus KGB and police crashed opposition's protest

Belarus secret and security services in the early hours of Friday morning forcibly broke up a five-day protest in central Minsk by opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko against last weekend's presidential elections. "The revolution has ended", a high-ranking law-enforcement official said, adding that police had detained protesters and dismantled tents on Minsk's central Oktyabrskaya Square. Social Democratic Party leader Alexander Kozulin, one of three defeated candidates in last Sunday's elections, said some 200 protesters had been arrested in a police raid at 4 a.m. local time, RIAN reported. Information has been received from people from police trucks that some special means were employed against them. People complain that some gas was used inside one of the white trucks, where the detained were put, oppositional sources reported. The exact whereabouts of all detained participants of the tent camp are still unknown. Part of the detainees was taken to the special detention center in Akrestsyn Street, part of them - to remand prison in Valadarski Street. It is unknown where other people could be. The detainees managed to inform on the phone that they were transported to the outskirts of Minsk or outside the city, supposedly to the settlement of Navinki, Charter 97 reported. Main opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich said the opposition would press ahead with plans to hold a large-scale rally March 25. Milinkevich said earlier Thursday the demonstration would be peaceful, and demonstrators would not storm the presidential residence on March 25. March 25 is known as Freedom Day, an unofficial holiday marking the day when Belarus declared independence in 1918, and a traditional day for opposition demonstrations. The Polish embassy in Minsk has enquired about the fate of the detained Polish citizens. 3 Poles are believed to have been detained, Polish Radio reported. These include a former Polish ambassador to Belarus and a journalist. Representatives of the Polish embassy in Minsk will meet local officials to establish what befell the missing Poles.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=755

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