MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th June, 2020) Some 10 people were detained during an unsanctioned picket in support of opposition presidential candidates in western Belarusian city of Grodno on Friday evening, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
According to the correspondent, police officers first warned people who gathered at the place of an sanctioned rally that the picket is illegal and urged them to leave.
The officers started making detentions only after a person at�the scene unfurled a political banner.
According to the Minsk-based Viasna Human Rights Center, the rally was meant to support opposition presidential hopefuls. The rights group said that a member of the initiative group of aspiring candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, as well as several other citizens were detained in Grodno on Friday.
Last week, the State Control Committee of Belarus detained Viktar Babaryka, a former banker and a presidential contender, as part of a criminal probe into tax evasion and money laundering involving Belgazprombank. Another aspiring candidate, opposition YouTuber Syarhei Tsikhanouski was earlier put under administrative arrest.
The election, scheduled for August 9, has galvanized Belarusian citizens behind different candidates and prompted disparate rallies. Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, who is running for a sixth term, has criticized the protests as misguided.
The Interior Ministry says that protests are directly managed through Telegram channels, with live broadcasts of US-funded Radio Liberty from the scene. According to the ministry, detentions are made only over violating law on mass public gatherings.
