Thursday, March 2
BREAKING NEWS: Belarus opposition candidate beaten and detained
MINSK - While Alexander Kozylin attempted to register for a mass gathering of delegates to be addressed by the president he got beaten and detained by Belarussian security forces on Thursday.
Officers tried to stop journalists from filming the incident and scuffles broke out. A Reuters television correspondent was beaten and injured.
A spokeswoman for Kozylin, former rector of Belarussian State University, said the 50-year-old candidate was being held in a Minsk police station.
"He has been beaten up quite badly. We don't know what his status is at the moment," Nina Shidlovskaya said by telephone.
Dozens of Kozylin supporters later gathered outside the police station to demand his release. Police also bundled about 20 protesters into a bus and took them away.
Several journalists were briefly forced inside the station.
The main opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevich, issued a statement denouncing the police action against Kozylin, saying the elections had now degenerated into a "farce".
"The authorities are panicked and afraid of democratic elections," he said. "They clearly understand that they are unable to win a democratic contest and are therefore resorting to breaking the law and repression of their opponents."
Milinkevich was due to hold an illegal rally in central Minsk later on Thursday. He has said he will not incite Belarussians to unrest but has not ruled out protests if the election is proved to be rigged.
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