MINSK – A rally organized by students from Minsk universities started in the Belarusian capital with arrests, tut.by reported.
Small groups of several dozen students, some of them holding white-red-white flags, started gathering outside Oktyabr cinema in Independence Avenue around midday, the news website said.
“By 12:05 p.m. arrests already began there. People in plainclothes and facemasks seized at least two young men and led them into a minibus without a number plate,” the report said.
On Sept. 4, riot police seized several students at Minsk State Linguistic University, who along with others sang La Marseillaise in English in the central hall of the university.
Earlier on Sept. 5 Education Minister Igor Karpenko ordered to tighten control over third party access to campus space at universities across the country.
Mass protests have continued in Belarus since the presidential election on August 9, which was officially won by the incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, in office since 1994. According to the results approved by the Central Election Commission, Lukashenko secured 80.1% of the vote and his main opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 10.12%.
