Belarus police detained 442 people during Sunday protests

Belarusian police arrested 442 people during Sunday’s protests in the country, 266 of whom were detained in the capital Minsk. Three hundred thirty of them have been detained in verdicts in administrative proceedings due to public nuisance.

Demonstrations have taken place in Belarus since the August 9 presidential election, which, according to the authorities, was won for the sixth time by Alexander Lukashenko with more than 80 percent of the vote. Many Belarusians are convinced that this result is falsified, and the opposition, like the EU, does not recognize it. Demonstrations, the participants of which are demanding Lukashenko’s departure, who has been in power for 26 years, and new elections continue, despite often brutal police interventions and arrests.

On Sunday, significant protests took place again in Minsk and several other cities.

Russian media correspondents have estimated the participation of 50,000 to 70,000 people in the Belarusian capital alone. Today, the Belarusian Interior Ministry claimed there was a maximum of 18,000 participants in Minsk and that their number in the whole country was around 20,000.