Shocking videos of protesters in Belarus being thrashed by the police inside a supermarket have surfaced on social media. At least 1,000 people were detained across Belarus on November 15, according to local human rights watchdog Viasna, amid mass demonstrations against longstanding leader Alexander Lukashenko, the CNN reported. The protests began after the results of an August election that protesters say was rigged.
Video footage by local media also showed security forces entering apartments in the area in search of protesters. A video clip posted on social media showed three men in riot gear attending to a man who appeared to be unconscious.
The Viasna (Spring) human rights group said 504 people had been detained so far by police so far during Sunday's protests around the country, the Reuters reported. Belarusian police detained hundreds of people who took to the streets in mass demonstrations on Sunday chanting "I'm going out", the last known written words of an anti-governmemt protester who died last week.
A witness in the capital Minsk said police had used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowds demonstrating against President Alexander Lukashenko.
The video of the protesters being beaten up in the supermarket has angered the the people on Internet.
#Belarus Security forces are detaining people right in a grocery store not far from the Square of Changes in #Minsk. People are beaten with batons. Other are trying to defend them. State terror pic.twitter.com/EKvyWxEdCN
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) November 15, 2020
God protect the Belarussians and their struggle for freedom. And you just have to wonder: could this happen in the United States?
— Amor Fati (@JimTrowbridge) November 15, 2020
This is horrific. Yet again, Lukaschenko’s thugs are destroying lives. For what? His fragile ego.
— Susan Chan (@suziechan286) November 15, 2020
Looks like a recipe for civil war
— 😷💖 Millie Fiore 🌺🐄🕷️😷 (@MillieFiore) November 15, 2020
Heartbreaking
— Covfefe (@thingbestnext) November 15, 2020
Belarus has been mired in political crisis for months. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets every week since an election in August that they say was rigged, something Lukasheko denies. They want the veteran leader, in power for 26 years, to resign.
The street rallies were re-ignited following the death of Roman Bondarenko, a 31-year old anti-government protester. He died in hospital in Minsk on Thursday following what demonstrators said was a severe beating by security forces.
The interior ministry has denied responsibility for Bondarenko's death, saying he was killed in a scuffle with civilians.
Security forces in riot gear and shields on Sunday flooded the square where Bondarenko was detained, pulling down opposition flags, kicking over memorial lamps and dragging people from the crowds and frog-marching them to vans, a witness said.
Hundreds of protesters, wearing the red-and-white colours that have come to represent the protest movement, had gathered on Sunday for a vigil near Bondarenko's house in Minsk.
Witnesses said Bondarenko was detained after scuffling with people in plain clothes who had come to a playground to remove red-and-white ribbons.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's main opponent, who fled into exile in Lithuania after the election, said on social media she supported Sunday's rallies in memory of Bondarenko.
Police have arrested thousands of people during months of protests, and rights groups say hundreds of detainees have reported being subjected to beatings and other rights abuses.
(With inputs from agencies)