Crackdown

last updated 8 January 2015

Minsk, Belarus

Belarusian authorities broke up pro-democracy protests this week, beating demonstrators and tossing more than 150 activists into prison. Among those jailed were presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kozulin and Mariusz Maszkiewicz, a former Polish diplomat; both were also beaten. After police hauled away the demonstrators from October Square, witnesses said, officers planted beer bottles, syringes, and pornographic magazines. State television then claimed that the rally had been a drug-fueled orgy. "Of course it is easier to carry out different sexual experiments on psychologically unstable youth," the broadcaster said. Activists said they would continue to challenge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, whose re-election last month was widely condemned as fraudulent. "We are by no means pessimistic," said opposition leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich. "I believe we have made the first step to victory."