Belarusian Security Forces Leave Minsk's Uruchcha District After Hours Of Protests

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Security forces left the area near Minsk's Uruchcha subway station in the early hours of Thursday following a protest of the Belarusian opposition which lasted since the previous afternoon, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

People gathered near the subway station at around 3:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

In what has become the signature feature of protests in Belarus since the pre-election period, they formed a so-called chain of solidarity � standing in lines holding hands. There were mainly women in the daytime, and then men took the shift in the evening. Several hundred people, they clapped hands, shouted political slogans and threw fire crackers occasionally.

Special purpose security forces arrived later in the evening.

According to the correspondents, they split into several groups and marched along the Independence Avenue, one of the Minsk protests' epicenter, and formed a line in front of the subway entrance.

Protesters were fleeing to the yards of nearby residential houses, and some of them threw glass and plastic bottles at the law enforcement. Security officers, in turn, fired pump action guns to deter them.

Yet, as reported by the correspondent, the protest did not grow into clashes and no arrests were conducted.

Protesters dispersed from the area late at night. The security agents waited for the area to clear completely, then restored the access to the subway station and left in groups.