Riot police raid office of European Belarus

Riot police raided the Minsk office of an opposition group called European Belarus on Wednesday evening, claiming that they had been tipped off about drugs in the apartment.

“We first saw through a window police grabbing our associate,” European Belarus activist Alyaksandr Vyalitchanka told BelaPAN. “Three minutes later, riot police bulged in the apartment. It turned out that they had seized the keys to the apartment from our associate. They said that they were searching for drugs.”

The riot police found banners and leaflets in support of imprisoned former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, who chairs European Belarus, as well as European Belarus flags. “After that, all the eight people who were there at the time were driven to the Savetski district police station. The police videoed and fingerprinted us. They also ordered us to provide explanations as to what we had been doing in the apartment, put down our names and freed us without a charge.”

"The police seized the banners, leaflets and flags but did not ask us to sign any report on the seizure," noted Mr. Vyalitchanka.