Minister for Europe condemns continuing crackdown in Belarus
"Such behaviour is an attack on basic rights and freedoms and inconsistent with Belarus' international obligations" said Minister for Europe David Lidington
Speaking today the Minister for Europe said:
“The United Kingdom condemns the disproportionate response of the authorities towards Belarusian citizens peacefully seeking to make public their concerns about the situation in their country on Wednesday and on four other occasions since 15 June. According to independent estimates, a total of 1730 citizens have been subjected to arbitrary detention in the past few weeks. In many cases these detentions have evidently been carried out forcibly by unidentified men dressed in plain clothes whom we can only assume to be police and security officers. We are particularly concerned by the apparent targeting of local and international journalists and cameramen, several of whom were also subjected to detention and violence. Such behaviour is an attack on basic rights and freedoms and inconsistent with Belarus’ international obligations.”