US and EU condemn mass arrests of Belarus opposition

Mon, 20 Dec 2010

Minsk - A wide-reaching crackdown on opponents to Belorussian President Aleksander Lukashenko was in progress on Monday amid criticism from the US and the European Union.

Uniformed police and plain clothes KGB agents had arrested more than 1,000 members of the opposition to the authoritarian Lukashenko regime in the wake of violent protests to his Sunday re-election to office.

Six of nine of the candidates that had run against Lukashenko in the poll were in police custody Tuesday morning, the Belapan news agency reported.

Two of the candidates, Vladimir Neklajew and Vitali Rymaschewski, received hospital treatment for injuries inflicted by police clubs during street riots in central Minsk.

"This cowardly attack against a defenseless presidential candidate is shocking and shameful," said Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, in a statement. "I am shocked."

More than 20,000 members of the Belorussian opposition gathered in central Minsk on Monday evening to protest against alleged vote fraud in Lukashenko's favor.

Nearly-complete official ballot counts - many criticized by the opposition for taking place behind closed doors without independent observers present - showed Lukashenko on track to win a fourth term in office with 79.7 per cent support nationwide.

Voter turnout was heavy at 90.4 per cent, according to Central Election Committee data.

Lukashenko, a former collective farm boss favoring Soviet-style government, had banned public demonstrations prior to the vote and threatened use of force if the opposition defied him.

Police moved in to break up the crowd late Sunday evening after a portion of the demonstrators attempted to break into the Central Election Committee and adjacent government buildings, breaking windows and tearing doors off hinges.

Lidia Eremoshina, head of the Central Election Committee and inside the building at the time, described the crowd's assault as "absolutely terrifying."

Arrests of opposition leaders and activist and raids of some of their homes continued through the early Monday morning, according to news reports.

A statement released by the US embassy in Minsk said Washington "is especially concerned with the extreme use of force by the authorities, including the beating of opposition candidates...and journalists."

The center of the capital Minsk was quiet on Monday morning, as sanitation crews were picking up debris. Police presence was heavy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358949,mass-arrests-belarus-opposition.html.