Belarus police intensify anti-government crackdowns with use of 'lethal weaponry': Reports

Having made threats to ‘start shooting’ the protesters, the Belarus police on Tuesday intensified the anti-government crackdown as they deployed harsher tactics with the use of lethal weaponry. As per reports, Special Purpose Police Detachment (OMON) on December 2 used water cannon, batons, stun grenades, tear gas canisters, and rubber bullets to break up crowds, seriously injuring the demonstrators while killing some, as the officers arrested dozens with coercion.

Many protesters were held at the Okrestina Detention Center of the Capital Minsk, including hundreds of females that were chased down by police in building courtyards where they were trying to take refuge, according to Viasna human rights organisation. 

In what the Belarusian interior ministry described as 'necessary’ action to disperse increasingly violent anti-Lukashenko protesters, security forces were reportedly authorised to use lethal force against the protesters that have spiked brutality, torture, and various forms of human rights abuses. This is also believed to have led to forceful detentions with unconfirmed charges. The Belarusian security forces wreaked violence in an attempt to disband rallies in the capital, which have been going on for months now as citizens demand the removal of President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to the disturbing visuals that emerged online, the uniformed officers were seen dragging scores of protesters and shoving them in a van as they chanted slogans such as "I'm going out", the last words written by a fellow anti-government protester who succumbed to police brutality. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been arrested every week since August elections that citizens claimed were 'rigged' and have been disputed by the opposition leaders. 

[Belarusian riot police gather to block demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Credit: AP]

[Police detain a man during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk. Credit: AP]

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Instructed to maintain 'law and order'

A former public prosecutor, Andrei Sytko, told sources of Deutsche Welle that the widespread violent crackdown by the security forces is so brutal as never witnessed "since the 1990s". A former commander of the Belarusian Interior Ministry's Almaz Special Anti-Terrorism Unit, Igor Makar, said that the police hadn’t been so severely rough in the past years, adding, that the involvement of all entities and protests on such a massive level led to the use of excessive force. According to Sytko’s statement, the situation worsened and stirred the political upheaval as the security forces were instructed to maintain law and order.

Footages aired by local news outlets show police officers in black balaclavas visibly carrying out arbitrary arrests and other forms of repression on the crowd as they shove civilians into unmarked vehicles. As per reports, so far as many as 13,000 people were detained during a post-election crackdown and have remained in confinement. Belarus ambassador Yury Ambrazevich had called the political crisis in Belarus a "complex situation". UN human rights council has passed a resolution calling out serious violations, asking the UN High Commissioner to take necessary actions.

[Police detain protestors during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Credit: AP]

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(With AP Inputs and Images)