Protesters rounded up in Belarus; Nobel-winning writer due for
questioning
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[August 26, 2020]
By Andrei Makhovsky
MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian police have
rounded up dozens of protesters heading home from peaceful
demonstrations, rights groups said on Wednesday, after days in which the
authorities exercised comparative restraint towards mass anti-government
rallies.
The country's most celebrated writer, Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana
Alexievich, was expected to appear for questioning later on Wednesday in
a criminal investigation into an opposition council, two of whose
leaders were jailed this week.
President Alexander Lukashenko has faced more than two weeks of mass
demonstrations against his 26-year rule since an election which his
opponents say was rigged. He denies electoral fraud and says the
protests are funded from abroad.
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Although Lukashenko has called the protesters "rats" and said he has
given the order to clear them from the streets, police had been
comparatively restrained in recent days, apparently wary of a crackdown
that would add to public anger.
But rights group Spring listed more than 30 people it said had been
arrested on Tuesday, mostly in peaceful circumstances.
In one typical account, a man wearing a red-and-white opposition flag on
his shoulder was walking with his wife and young son, when an unmarked
car pulled up, the group said. Two men in plain clothes jumped out,
pushed the woman and child away, shoved the man into the car and drove
off.
The Interior Ministry said police had detained 51 people for
administrative violations after unsanctioned rallies on Tuesday. It
typically reports dozens of such arrests per day.
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![](../images/082620PIX/news_n23.jpg)
A man raises his fist as he attends an opposition demonstration to
protest against presidential election results at the Independence
Square in Minsk, Belarus, August 25, 2020. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
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Alexievich, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature for work that
includes oral histories of World War Two and the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster, is one of dozens of high profile figures who formed a new
opposition Coordination Council last week.
She was due for questioning in the afternoon at the Investigative
Committee, a body handling a criminal investigation into the
opposition council for attempting to seize power.
The council says its aim is to negotiate a peaceful transition of
authority after the election. Two of its leaders were jailed for 10
days on Tuesday, including the main representative inside Belarus of
opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. She fled
to Lithuania after the election which her supporters say she won.
(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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