Belarus: Police storm opposition tent camp in capital

Police swiftly ended an unprecedented protest in Belarus on today, arresting hundreds of demonstrators in a pre-dawn raid.

Condemnation of last weekend’s election reached new levels, with the European Union and US vowing sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko.

Riot police stormed into an opposition tent camp during the fourth night of a round-the-clock protests in central Minsk’s Oktyabrskaya Square, hauling away youths and jailing them.

Police wrestled about 50 demonstrators into trucks, and the remaining 200-300 then followed quietly.

One local journalist said she saw police kick people who fell as they were being dragged away.

Opposition youth movement member Nikolai Ilyin, 21, said he and other demonstrators – many of them with only socks on their feet because they had been sleeping – were taken to a Minsk jail.

“Many people were made to stand in stockinged feet in the snow for two hours. We were made to stand against a wall with our hands up, and those who would turn their heads or say something were punched in their kidneys,” Ilyin said.

He said he fainted and was taken to hospital, then fled the hospital.

High school student Alexander Ushko said police “beat those who were the most active and those who were resisting”, being careful to avoid leaving bruises.

“They punched me in the legs and the back of the head,” he said after his father came to the jail to secure his release.

A former Polish ambassador to Belarus, Mariusz Maszkiewicz, was among those arrested and said he and others in the same police truck were severely beaten, Polish Embassy spokeswoman Monika Sadkowska said.

Two Georgian TV correspondents also were detained while interviewing protesters’ relatives, Georgia’s Rustavi-2 television said.

About 100 angry relatives rallied outside the jail, shouting “Shame!” and “Freedom!” – the same slogans chanted at the square – and briefly blocked buses apparently carrying detainees to court.

Riot police pushed them off the road as the buses passed, the parents trying to peer into the windows.

“This is really torment. It is inhuman,” said Alena Lukashevich, who said her son was detained, but that she could get no information about him.

Tension mounted on Oktyabrskaya Square again this evening, ahead of a planned opposition rally there tomorrow, with police showing the hard line was likely to continue.

About 30 opposition supporters holding flowers gathered at twilight at the square where the tent camp had sprung up, but were pushed away by black-clad police.

Groups of police then gradually cleared the large square, pushing people off in all directions and detaining at least three, including a man who appeared to have been punched in the chin and a woman who struggled but was subdued by a dozen officers.

A crowd on the main street leading off the square shouted “Shame!”

European Union leaders today said the bloc would take ”restrictive measures” against Lukashenko, including a likely travel ban to the EU and a possible freeze of Belarusian assets in Europe.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Washington would act in unison with the EU on such measures.

The EU and the US both called for an immediate end to the crackdown on the opposition.

The protests began with a rally of more than 10,000 people on Sunday, the day of the election in which Lukashenko was declared the overwhelming winner.

About 5,000 came to a second protest on Monday and a handful of demonstrators began setting up tents amid the crowd – starting an encampment that served as the focus for nightly rallies that drew a few thousand people.

However, the opposition failed to muster enough strength to force the kind of political change prompted by post-election protests in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Police had detained hundreds of opposition supporters and sought to keep the crowd from swelling, but had made no move to break up the tent camp.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the decision for the pre-dawn raid.

But an annual television awards ceremony was to be held this evening at the Palace of the Republic bordering the square, and the scruffy tent camp would have been an embarrassment to the government.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich has called for a new vote without Lukashenko’s participation.

He claims his election was unconstitutional because he was allowed to run for a third term only after an allegedly fraudulent referendum in 2004 that abolished term limits.

“The authorities are destroying freedom, truth and justice,” Milinkevich said.

“The people on the square were courageous,” he added. ”They got up off their knees and together with them all of Belarus stood up.”

He vowed to press ahead with plans for a major demonstration tomorrow, the anniversary of Belarus’ first independence declaration in 1918 and a traditional rallying day for the opposition.

He said protesters would find another place to gather if police blocked Oktyabrskaya Square.

The Justice Ministry issued a statement warning that demonstrations require prior government approval.

Milinkevich demanded the release of peaceful protesters, calling the crackdown “a monstrous violation of human rights” and saying jail conditions are atrocious.

Lukashenko’s supporters, who credit him with providing economic and political stability, were happy to see the tent camp gone.

“They had no business being there; it was a stupid rally,” said Natalia, 57, a pensioner who declined to give her last name for fear of attracting attention. “We live OK and if something’s not broken, don’t fix it.”