Page 11 - Belarus Protests News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Pensioners attend an opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 16, 2020 (AP photo). To Support Belarus’ Opposition, the West Needs to Get Creative KYIV, Ukraine—After Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on the mass protests that erupted last August in opposition to his clumsily rigged reelection victory, many Western countries spoke up in dismay at the level of repression he unleashed. More than 30,000 people have been arrested, according to human rights groups, and brutal beatings of detainees are common. In response, the United States and the European Un...

Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova, who were sentenced to two years each in prison, were arrested after filming coverage of the violent dispersal of a anti-government protest.

"This is an attempt to intimidate journalists and human rights activists who have been telling the world about the unbelievable scale of repressions," said @viasna96 activist Valiantsin Stefanovich.

Lukashenko, in power for over 26 years, declared to the 2,700 delegates present on Thursday that they would be able to draft constitutional reforms. The opposition has branded it a sham.

Jailed Lukashenko opponent Kolesnikova defiant in Belarus The Belarusian dissident Maria Kolesnikova has been in jail since September, when she opted to tear up her passport rather than go into coerced exile. Before her arrest in September, Kolesnikova helped direct protests against Lukashenko Maria Kolesnikova, a leader of the opposition in Belarus, was detained by masked men in September in Minsk, driven to the border with Ukraine and ordered to leave the country. But she refused and tore up her passport. She has been in custody ever since, charged with an attempt to seize power. Her detent...