As protests continue in Belarus, police are increasingly violent against those who challenge the results of the presidential election. At the microphone of Europe 1, Andrei Vaitovich, one of the journalists present in Minsk, recounts the attacks against his colleagues that he has seen in recent days.

After the re-election to the presidency of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko in early August, in power for twenty-six years, protests are continuing in Belarus. On the ground, journalists are trying to cover the situation as best they can, while the authorities are targeting them. Andreï Vaitovich, one of the journalists present in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, tells the microphone of Europe 1 the difficulties in exercising his profession, while he can, like his colleagues, be arrested at any time. 

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Broken equipment and confiscated memory cards

"One day it was an Associated Press reporter, another it was a BBC crew ... They were brutally arrested with physical force: their equipment was broken and their memory cards were confiscated," he explains. "I spoke with the associate of the Associated Press, who told me about his arrest: he was beaten in the car, he did not know where he was being driven. We saw journalists who were wanted in their hotels, others who were wounded by rubber bullets, "continues Andrei Vaitovich. 

The accredited team of the @bbcworldservice was attacked this evening in #Minsk, despite the “press” vests. The cameraman was beaten by the men in black. Other journalists are brutally arrested, equipment is broken, memory cards are confiscated. # Belarus

- Andrei VAITOVICH (@andreivaitovich) August 11, 2020

Some journalists injured by rubber bullets

In the country, the Russian channel of Euronews has it been cut and the Internet is slowed down by a power which plays its survival. Several state media journalists have also announced their resignations in recent days.

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Since the start of the protests, more than fifty reporters have been arrested. On Thursday evening again, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the violent repression of the protest movement. In the evening, the authorities announced that they had released more than 1,000 demonstrators, while, in the streets of the capital Minsk, the police presence was much less strong than during the four previous evenings of protest, according to journalists from the AFP.