250 people arrested at a protest in Minsk: "They used flags and other opposition symbols"

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Minsk today at the invitation of the opposition, in a protest movement against the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, which is not abating despite the repression of the police, who announced that they had arrested 250 people today.

The opposition, which has taken more than 9 people to the streets every weekend since the presidential election on August 100.000 in the capital alone, organized protests again today despite large numbers of police equipped with armored vehicles and water cannons on the streets.

More than tens of thousands of people came out to the center of Minsk, forming a column several kilometers long, reported the journalist of Agence France-Presse.

At the beginning of today's gathering, the police announced that "about 250 people" were arrested in Minsk for "using flags and other opposition symbols."

"About 250 people were arrested in various parts of the capital" for using "flags and other symbols" of the opposition and "posters with offensive messages", according to the Ministry of the Interior's announcement.

Last weekend, more than 600 people were arrested on the sidelines of such an opposition rally in Minsk and other cities.

Dozens of women who participated in the women's march yesterday were brutally arrested.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a candidate in the presidential elections who believes she has defeated Lukashenko and is in exile in Lithuania, greeted the heroic people who continue their "struggle for freedom" in a video.

Volunteers in various locations distribute water and food to the protesters, and among them are many people with children, reports Interfax and adds that, according to the media, unsanctioned protests are also taking place today in other cities of Belarus, such as Brest and Gomel.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of demonstrators on the streets does not exceed three thousand.

By arresting the authorities of Belarus, they are trying to quell the almost month-long mass protests due to the re-election of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in the August elections.

The protests in Belarus, unprecedented in terms of number of participants and duration, began after the elections on August 9, in which, according to the official results, Lukashenko gained the right to a sixth term, winning more than 80 percent of the votes.