MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2021) More than 180 people were detained in Belarus for attempts to hold anti-government rallies, the unregistered Viasna human rights center said.
According to the latest data on the Viasna website, 189 people were detained on Saturday, mainly in the capital of Minsk. The circumstances of the detentions were not specified.
Earlier, police spokeswoman Natalia Ganusevich told Sputnik that several people were detained in Minsk on Saturday over their participation in unlawful rallies.
Earlier in the day, the Belarusian Investigative Committee said that it had opened a criminal case in connection with calls for March 27 protests on Telegram channels, including those recognized as extremist in the country. The opposition still stated plans to hold rallies in Belarusian cities.
A wave of mass protests started in Belarus following the presidential election on August 9, 2020, that saw incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko reelected for a sixth term. While electoral authorities maintain that Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the votes, the opposition insists that his key contender, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won the election.
Anti-government rallies continue to this day, but the numbers have dramatically decreased. In February, the State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus said that the situation had stabilized and that the protest wave had almost faded away.
