GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2020) The Belarusian Red Cross Society has brought more than 4,000 hygiene kits as part of three humanitarian aid deliveries to pretrial detention centers across the country and has managed to build a stockpile to meet further needs, the press officer of the organization told Sputnik amid mass detentions during the ongoing protests.
"The Belarusian Red Cross provides humanitarian aid to detainees kept in pretrial detention centers across the whole of Belarus. From August 14-17, we made three aid deliveries to the Minsk Center for Isolation of Offenders and to the pretrial detention center No. 1 in Minsk, from where the kits were distributed to other facilities. In total, more than 4,000 hygiene kits were delivered," the press officer said.
Wound closure materials, water, food, warm clothes and blankets were also sent to the detention facilities, among other things.
"By now, a reserve of the collected items has been created in the central office of the Belarusian Red Cross. We continue to keep in touch with representatives of the Department of Corrections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus and are ready to promptly respond to the incoming requests," the press officer added.
At the moment, the society is working on the launch of a rehabilitation program for those who have suffered during the violent protests. The program will include free psychological help, financial assistance for medicines, as well as retreat programs in health camps.
According to official statistics, around 3,000 people were detained in Belarus during just the first night of the protests. Detentions and violence subsequently continued for several more days. The Interior Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that 44 people remained in custody over participating in the unauthorized protests.
The Belarusian Red Cross Society does not have its own count of detainees and follows the official statistics, its representative told Sputnik.
Belarus plunged into protests after August 9 election results showed incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko win over 80 percent of the vote, and opposition contender Svetlana Tikhanovskaya challenged the outcome. The first days of unrest saw a tough confrontation between protesters and law enforcement officers, resulting in mass detentions and injuries on both sides. The security forces have since softened the response and started releasing those detained en masse. The rallies and strikes are ongoing.
