BELARUSALERT – DAY 63
Date: 12 October 2020
The brutality of the regime, fewer protesters
More than 400 people were detained on Sunday during the protests in various cities of Belarus. There are over 40 journalists among them. The vast majority of the arrests took place in Minsk, but the militia also detained demonstrators in other cities, including Babruysk, Brest, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Grodno, Maladzyechna, Zhlobin and Kobryn. Traditionally, the largest protest took place in the capital, but it was still significantly smaller than previous Sunday marches. Several thousand people, at most, took to the streets of Minsk. For the duration of the demonstration the authorities closed all subway stations and forced the speed of mobile internet in the city to be slowed down. The militia acted very brutally – the last time it did so was in the first days after the election. In the center of Minsk, the militia used water cannons and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. The detainees were cruelly beaten with batons. According to the Prosecutor’s Office in Minsk, since the beginning of the protests, i.e. since August 9, a total of about 3000 people have been administratively punished in the capital. Approximately 2000 people were imprisoned, about 1000 fined.
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