Mass arrests of opposition leaders in Minsk

The United Civil party leader Anatol Lyabedzka and the chairman of the Communist party Syarhei Kalyakin were detained.

Anatol Lyabedzka, the UCP leader, was arrested first. With activists of his party he was handing out leaflets about the anti-crisis platform of the United Democratic Forces.

The detained leader of the party Anatol Lyabedzka and activist Alyaksandr Stsepanenka were taken to the police department of Savetski district of Minsk.

Later the leader of the Communist party of Belarus Syarhei Kalyakin was detained while handing out leaflets near the entrance of Minsk Tractor plant.

People in plainclothes detained the politician and took him to a paddy wagon. Journalists who were witnesses of the arrest were not allowed to come near the paddy wagon.

On September 30 the democratic forces held the single day of social informing. Out of 450 appeals for holding pickets in different parts of the country on this day, only two were satisfied, in Mahilyou and in Polatsk. The UDF inform people despite of the ban of the authorities. Oppositionists decided to hold so-called “flying pickets” and hand out leaflets in different parts of Minsk.