On 21 July there turned 10 years of the rule of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Belarusian opposition held a peaceful action of protest in the center of the capital. The meeting was violently dispersed by special police forces. (22-JULY-04)

At about 6 p.m. several thousand people with posters and banners gathered in Yakub Kolas Square in the center of Minsk, expressing their attitude towards Lukashenka´s rule. Soon the place was ringed by the police and detentions started.

Beaten up
Policemen used truncheons, twisted arms and heads while pulling people to specially prepared busses. As a result, about 50 persons were driven to a police station. Many of them were beaten. About 40 action participants intended to come there to support their detained friends. All of them were detained on the way, driven 40 kilometers away from Minsk and left there.

Imprisoned and fined
In the late evening all detained minors were let go, whereas adults had to spend the night in a detention center. Today, on 22 July, 25 persons were judged at Minsk Savetski Borough Court for participation in the action. 14 of them received from 3 to 10 days of jail, 9 – fined sums equal to 60–450 US dollars and 2 – warned.

Complaint
In the evening of 21 July road police also detained the car of the head of the head of Minsk regional organization of the oppositional party Belarusian People´s Front, deputy of Minsk District Deputy Soviet Yury Ziankovich after the officially permitted action in Banhalor Square in Minsk and took him to the police station as well. In his complaint against the illegal action to the police the deputy wrote:

…The colonel rudely pushed my wife out into the corridor. When I tried to defend her, he burst on me. One more lieutenant colonel, a person in plain clothes and major lieutenant Verabyow helped him. They threw me onto the floor and twisted my arms (Biassmertny stepped on my hand during it). Then major lieutenant Verabyow examined my pockets. He took away my mobile phone, driver´s license and car documents, passport, keys from the car and my flat and my watch. Then both lieutenant colonels started to insult me with four-letter words. They threatened to take me into a cell, punish for disorderly conduct and assault on the police. Then Biassmertny ordered “to throw the whore out”, meaning my wife…