Belarus says hundreds arrested as opposition figure ‘kidnapped’

7 September 2020, 7:23 pm

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Belarus says that police have detained more than 600 people at weekend protests and the opposition says a senior figure has been snatched off the streets, as authorities intensify efforts to end weeks of demonstrations.

The opposition’s Coordination Council says one of its high-profile members Maria Kolesnikova has been “kidnapped by unknown people in central Minsk” along with a spokesman and executive secretary.

“Their whereabouts are unknown,” it says, accusing President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime of “openly using methods of terror.”

Lukashenko’s main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says the abductions are an attempt to disrupt the work of the Coordination Council.

— AFP