Police in Moscow arrest eight protesters near Belarusian embassy :: Charter'97 :: News

The police in Moscow arrested eight people as activists of the youth wings of the Yabloko party and the Union of Right Forces staged an unauthorized protest near the Belarusian embassy on May 4 to demand the immediate release of the Belarusian and Ukrainian anti-Lukashenko demonstrators held in jail in Minsk.

As Sergei Kazakov, spokesman for the Yabloko party, told BelaPAN, there were an OMON (riot police) squad on two buses and some 20 policemen watching outside the embassy, who promptly made the arrests and tore the protesters` signs to pieces.

The arrested are to stood trial on May 5 and may be sentenced to 10 days in jail, Mr. Kazakov said, adding that the Yabloko party would contest guilty judgments.

Fourteen Russians, five Ukrainians and some 10 Belarusians were arrested as a riot police force dispersed an anti-Lukashenko crowd that attempted to stage a march in downtown Minsk on April 26 on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. All of them were later sentenced by district courts to five to 15 days in jail.

On April 30, the Minsk City Court granted an early release to all the jailed Russians following a petition by the Russian ambassador to Belarus.

At least one of those then released was arrested near the Belarusian embassy in Moscow on Wednesday.