Anger does not fall in Belarus.

Police brutally arrested several dozen demonstrators participating in a rally of thousands in the streets of Minsk on Saturday September 12 to protest against police violence and electoral fraud, according to local media.

Ahead of a mass protest expected on Sunday, a peaceful rally of women was held in central Minsk on Saturday.

Some banged on saucepans with ladles, others chanted "Bring back our Masha", referring to the diminutive of one of the opposition leaders, Maria Kolesnikova.

The 38-year-old woman was jailed this week after resisting forced eviction by tearing up her passport.

Scuffles broke out in the central Place de la Liberté, when masked and black-hooded men tried to arrest demonstrators who pushed them back, according to images broadcast by the Belsat television channel and the independent media Tut.by.

About forty arrests

In another video, riot police brutally throw protesters into police vans.

More than 40 people have been arrested, according to human rights group Viasna.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Olga Tchemodanova said "women have been arrested" without saying how many or providing further details. 

Belsat, a Warsaw-based opposition television station, told the Telegram messaging app that two of its journalists covering the protest were also arrested. 

The re-election on August 9 to the presidency of this former Soviet republic of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, with a score of 80%, gave rise to an unprecedented protest movement in Belarus, to denounce a fraudulent ballot.

Read also >> Belarus: three women in Lukashenko's sights

All Belarusian opposition figures, often women, in this historic protest marked by record demonstrations every Sunday in Minsk, are now either in exile or in prison.

Challenged in the street for more than a month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be in Russia on Monday to meet his counterpart Vladimir Poutine, the Kremlin affirming that "integration" of the two countries will be on the agenda.

With AFP

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