Opposition protest broken up in Minsk

Belarusian police have dispersed a protest in the centre of the Belarusian capital. Several dozen people had come to express support for opposition activists detained in connection with explosions on 4 July. Interfax reports that the police surrounded the protesters and pushed them away from October Square.

It is still not clear how many people have been arrested by the Belarusian security service, with officers not giving commentary, referring to secrecy of the investigation. Colleagues of those detain insist that there are at least seven people in the pre-trial detention centre [SIZO]. These included three activists of the Belarusian People’s Front  and four former members of the organization “White Legion”. The latter nationalist radical group was banned by the authorities 11 years ago. The explosions occurred during a concert for Belarusian Independence Day, which injured around 50 people.