Committee To Protect Journalists Urges Belarus To Stop Attacking Press Covering Protests

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) The New York City-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Belarusian authorities to stop attacking journalists covering protests in Belarus following presidential elections being contested by the country's opposition.

"Belarusian authorities must stop attacking members of the press covering protests, and should ensure that police officers who attack journalists are held to account," Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator said.

"Journalists must be able to report on this pivotal moment in the country's history freely and safely," Said said.

Several Russian media outlets, including Sputnik Belarus, RT, tv Rain, Meduza and Daily Storm, have said that their reporters have been detained in Minsk. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was personally overseeing how the situation with arrested reporters was unfolding.

Unauthorized protests started throughout Belarus on Sunday night after preliminary results showed incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko winning the election with over 80 percent of the vote, while the campaign team of opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has refused to recognize the results. Protesters in downtown Minsk built barricades from garbage cans. Police used tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades against them, and pushed protesters out of the city center.