31 January 2008
Police beat opposition youths in Salihorsk

Opposition youths are reported to have beaten up by police in Salihorsk, Minsk region, on Wednesday over a demonstration staged in protest against increasing crackdown on sole entrepreneurs.

Around 60 people arrived at the city executive committee on that day. They lined up and stood for a while holding lightened candles.

The demonstration also was in support of two civil society activists -- Alyaksandr Tsatsura and Larysa Nasanovich -- who were earlier jailed for 15 days over gathering signatures for two petitions to the city authorities.

Around 18 police officers were at the scene and filmed the demonstration, Tatsyana Kuchynskaya, a local entrepreneur, told BelaPAN.

"When they approached us to ask what we were doing there, we replied, ' This is a funeral for small business," she said.

Nine members of the unregistered Malady Front organization were assaulted after other demonstrators dispersed. According to Ms. Kuchynskaya, officers ringed around the youths and started beating them. "One was hit with a truncheon so hard that he fell to the ground," she said. "They beat even girls."

The youths were then put into a police vehicle and driven away to a police department.