Belarus police disperse new protest rally, dozens detained

Belarus police disperse new protest rally, dozens detained

MINSK, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian police dispersed newprotest rally against President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, thecapital of Belarus, on Wednesday evening, detaining dozens ofdemonstrators.

Several thousand people took part in the protest against thecurrent authority in downtown Minsk. Belarusian Special Forcesdetained dozens of people and put them into police buses. Amongthose detained were journalists of local media. Ruslan Rindevich, ajournalist for Russian newswire Interfax, was also detained.

Police sealed off entry to the city's October Square and SvobodaSquare near the main presidential headquarters. It caused varioustraffic jams near the center of the city when people driving homeafter working day.

Dozens of cars joined the protest, driving slowly down the mainthoroughfare and sounding their horns. Participants gatheredpeacefully, simply applauding in a coordinated act of protest.

Demonstrators gathered on the streets of the Belarusian capitalfor the second time in a week to protest President AleksandrLukashenko's handling of the Belarus economic crisis.

Posts on social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter andRussia's Vkontakte.ru have been calling on Belarusians to rally inOctober Square and at central points in other cities everyWednesday.

"I am here to show my negative attitude to the current presidentand the ruling government. They put the country on the brink ofeconomic disaster," said Alexander, 25, a retail worker.

The 55-year-old Margarita was disturbed by mass detentions ofdemonstrators. "It is a peaceful demonstration, people are cominghere just to show their negative attitude to the current situationin the economy, there are a lot of young people among them, butSpecial Forces behave very rude to them, grabbed them, put intobuses and take away."

A Xinhua correspondent at the scene in the city center saidBelarusian Special Forces expelled by force also the people sittingin the central cafes, considering them as demonstrators.

Demonstrations were held in other Belarusian cities and towns.According to Belarus rights organization Vesna-96 about 100 peoplehad been detained in other parts of Belarus for staging protests.

Earlier Lukashenko said he would clamp down hard on anyone caughtprotesting against economic measures. Referring to calls on theInternet for public protests, he stressed, "We have the oppositionin Minsk on social networks. They use the Internet to call forstrikes. I will look, watch and then I will strike hard so that theywill not get a chance to defect abroad."

The national currency has come under severe pressure in the firstfive months of the year from a large trade deficit, generous wageincreases and loans granted by the government ahead of the December2010 presidential elections, which spurred strong demand for foreigncurrency.

At the end of May National Bank cut almost in half the value ofthe Belarusian ruble against the U.S. dollar, causing panic acrossthe country. Belarusians have been rushing to buy goods and liningup for days at exchange offices to get foreign currency in anattempt to protect their savings.