Belarusian authorities detain over 20 in new wave of arrests

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities have detained over 20 people in the latest wave of arrests, continuing their sweeping crackdown on dissent a year after a disputed presidential election. Belarus was rocked by protests, which were fueled by the Aug. 9, 2020 re-election of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to a sixth term in a vote that the opposition and the West rejected as a sham. Lukashenko responded to demonstrations with massive repressions that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police. Belarusian authorities have ramped up the clampdown in recent months, arresting scores of independent journalists, activists and all those deemed unloyal.