Tear gas fired and websites blocked as Belarus protesters are targeted
Belarusian authorities must refrain from using excessive force against
protesters, Amnesty International said today, after police used teargas
and arrested more than 300 protesters on Sunday.
Social
networking websites Facebook and Twitter were also reportedly blocked as
thousands of activists gathered in the capital Minsk and other cities
to express their disapproval at President Alexander Lukashenka’s
economic policies by clapping in unison.
Tear gas was used
against a group of protesters at Minsk’s Railway Station Square, and
protesters elsewhere in the city were beaten by police. The arrests were
carried out by state security agents in plain clothes who did not
present any form of identification or state the reasons for the arrests.
“Belarus continues to ride roughshod over human rights, but
these latest mass arrests and use of teargas against peaceful protesters
show that attacks on freedom of expression appear to be intensifying, “
said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe
and Central Asia.
“These blocks on communication are an attempt
to cut off demonstrators from each other and clearly violates the right
to freedom of expression,” said John Dalhuisen.
President
Lukashenka was in defiant mood at a military parade in Minsk to mark
Independence Day on Sunday, the anniversary of the liberation of Belarus
from German occupation in 1944. He blamed the unrest on foreign
intervention.
“We understand the goal of these attacks. It is
to sow uncertainty and disturbance, destroy public consent, and [..]
nullify efforts done to gain independence. This will never happen,” he
said.
According to Viasna Human Rights Center, among the more
than 200 protesters arrested in Minsk were 17 journalists. Some of the
journalists have been released, but 340 people remain in detention. Some
160 are being held in Minsk, while 180 are in detention centres in
cities across Belarus. Some protesters were beaten as they were arrested
and others were beaten in the police vans.
Trials are ongoing,
and the detainees are being charged with minor hooliganism or
participation in an unsanctioned meeting, offences which involve short
administrative sentences of 10-15 days.
“Clamping down on
peaceful protesters does nothing to address the root causes of their
grievances which relate primarily to the economic situation,” said John
Dalhuisen.
“Concerns about the enjoyment of economic and social
rights cannot be removed by restricting civil and political rights.
Peaceful protesters must not be detained, security forces must not use
violence against protesters, and all those in detention must be
immediately released”, he added.