Belarus protests: Maria Kolesnikova 'detained
by masked men'.
Unidentified masked men have detained a leading
opposition figure in Belarus, according to
local media.
Witnesses reportedly saw Maria Kolesnikova
being bundled into a minibus in Minsk and
driven away.
She was one of three women who joined forces
ahead of August's presidential election to
challenge incumbent Alexander Lukashenko.
Mass unrest has followed his re-election amid
allegations of vote-rigging.
The interior ministry said it detained 633
people on Sunday after a fourth consecutive
weekend of protests.
At least four people have died and hundreds
have been injured as authorities have tried
to crush dissent in the country.
EU leaders do not recognise the results of
the election and have agreed to impose sanctions
on Belarus.
But Mr Lukashenko - who has been in power
since 1994 - has blamed Western nations for
interfering in his country.
On Monday, the Kremlin announced he would
visit Moscow for talks "in the coming days".
An eyewitness told Belarus news outlet Tut.by
that she saw masked men take Ms Kolesnikova's
mobile phone and push her into a minibus on
Monday morning.
Police in the capital, Minsk, have not yet
commented on the reports.
Ms Kolesnikova was a member of the Co-ordination
Council set up by the opposition to ensure
a transfer of power.
Government authorities have launched a criminal
case against opposition leaders, saying the
"creation and activity of the Co-ordination
Council are aimed at the seizure of state
power, and at harming national security".
She is the last of the three women who joined
forces against Mr Lukashenko to remain inside
Belarus.
Veronika Tsepkalo and presidential candidate
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya left the country soon
after the vote.
"I'm the only one of the three of us who is
still here," Ms Kolesnikova told BBC Russian
in an interview last month.
"To understand exactly what's going on, you
really have to be here."
Describing the demonstrations as "not a struggle
for power", but "a struggle for human dignity
and self-respect", she said she was not afraid
for herself, but worried about further violence.
She also said she and her team had decided
against using bodyguards because there would
be "no point".
"I am aware that no number of guards would
be of any use if a bus full of riot police
stopped us," she said.
"We all know what a police state is capable
of."
Another female activist, Olga Kovalkova, announced
on Saturday she had fled to Poland amid threats
of imprisonment.
Her arrest follows further demonstrations
on Sunday - a key day for street demonstrations
since the rallies began.
Eyewitnesses told Russia's Interfax news agency
that police began to make arrests in Minsk
after the unsanctioned rally ended and people
were going home.
Video footage on Sunday shows men in plain
clothes beating peaceful protesters with batons.
The interior ministry confirmed at least 633
arrests had been made across the republic.
It said some 363 people had been sent to detention
centres pending court hearings.
Internal Affairs Minister Yuri Karayev defended
the actions of the security forces.
"They talk about the brutality of the Belarusian
police, and I want to say this: there are
no more humane, restrained and cool-headed
police anywhere in the world," he was quoted
as saying by the official Belta news agency.
In recent days, the security forces have targeted
university students as they returned from
their holidays, dragging some from the streets
and university buildings into unmarked minivans.
One protester in Minsk, who gave her name
as Lyudmila, told the BBC earlier that the
demonstrators were undeterred by the security
forces.
"We are definitely not ready to get back to
the life we had for many years now," she said.
"We finally feel like we matter because we've
been living in apathy for way too long, and
now we just have this feeling of solidarity
and we actually think that - well, I feel
personally that - changes already are happening,
so that's definitely not the time to give
up."
Protests have also been reported in other
Belarusian cities and towns including Grodno,
Mogilev and Gomel.
[News from BBC]
Please subscribe to my channel.
Thanks for watching.
