Belarus opposition to march after police crackdown

Belarusian authorities on Sunday brought military
trucks and barbed wire into central Minsk ahead of a planned opposition march,
a day after police detained hundreds of women demonstrators.
The opposition movement calling for an end to the
regime of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has kept up a wave of
large-scale demonstrations every Sunday since his disputed win in August 9
polls.
The latest opposition protests were set to begin at
2 pm local time (1100 GMT), with opposition social media calling for
demonstrators to gather in central Minsk as well as in other cities.
Belarusian opposition news sites posted video and
photos of a convoy of military trucks and vehicles with rolls of barbed wire
driving into the centre ahead of the demonstration.
The protest comes after riot police cracked down on
peaceful women demonstrators on Saturday who were wearing shiny accessories for
their so-called "Sparkly March."
They dragged protesters into vans, lifted some women
off their feet and carried them.
Belarusian interior ministry spokeswoman Olga
Chemodanova said Sunday morning that police had detained 415 people in Minsk
and 15 in other cities for breaking rules on mass demonstrations. She said 385
had been released.
Chemodanova warned Belarusians they could face
criminal charges for organising such protests.
The number of detentions on Saturday was far higher
than at a similar protest last week, prompting the opposition's Coordination
Council to warn of a "new phase in the escalation of violence against
peaceful protesters."
Among those detained was one of the most prominent
faces of the protest movement, 73-year-old activist Nina Baginskaya, although
she was later released.
The aggressive police tactics prompted an opposition
Telegram channel, Nexta, which has more than 2 million subscribers, to publish
what it said was a list of the names and ranks of more than 1,000 police.
Protesters have sought to expose the identity of
police who appear at demonstrations in plain clothes or in uniforms without
insignia or name badges, trying to pull off their masks and balaclavas.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who
claimed victory over Lukashenko in the polls and has taken shelter in
Lithuania, on Saturday said Belarusians were ready to strip police obeying
"criminal orders" of anonymity.
A female anchor on state television channel Belarus
1 criticised the women protesters on Saturday evening, asking: "How did
these women get so aggressive? After all nature intended them to guard their
hearth."
The broadcast made no mention of police detentions.
Lukashenko has dismissed opposition calls for his
resignation and sought help from Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who has
promised law enforcement backup if needed and a $1.5 billion loan.
Tikhanovskaya is set to meet European Union foreign
ministers in Brussels on Monday as the EU prepares sanctions against those it
blames for rigging the election and the regime's violent crackdown on
protesters.
Authorities have jailed many of Tikhanovskaya's
allies who formed the leadership of the Coordination Council or driven them out
of the country.
One of her campaign partners, Maria Kolesnikova, has
been imprisoned and charged with undermining national security.