Police Crack Down On Women’s Protest In Minsk

Dozens of women have been arrested in Minsk after riot police moved in to break up a protest that authorities said had not been sanctioned. Women chanted slogans against policemen, and some tried to pull off security officers' balaclavas to expose their faces. Several thousand people gathered in the center of the Belarusian capital on September 12 for what was planned as a women’s march amid ongoing protests against the disputed August 9 reelection of longtime authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a subsequent crackdown on postelection protests that has often been violent.