Sky News Reporters Released By Belarusian Police - Association Of Journalists

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2020) Three journalists of the Sky news channel, who were earlier taken to a police station in Minsk, have been released with their camera being seized for the probe and their driver still in detention, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the association reported that Sky News' camera crew was detained in central Minsk. Diana Magnay, a UK citizen, as well as Anastasia Leonova and Vadim Nechaev were taken to the police station to be released later. The circumstances of the detention remain unclear.

"Three Sky News journalists have been released from the police station based in Minsk's Sovetsky district. A video camera has not been returned, it will be sent for the probe," the association wrote on Telegram.

It added that the driver of the camera crew "remains to be detained."

More than 200 people, the majority of whom were young women, participated in a "women's march" in the Belarusian capital on Saturday. The protesters went along Independence Avenue, accompanied by security service vehicles. Seventeen female participants of the unauthorized rally organized by the Belarusian opposition were detained.

Mass opposition protests have been ongoing in Belarus since the August 9 presidential election in which the incumbent leader, Alexander Lukashenko, secured his sixth consecutive term. The opposition has refused to recognize the official results and continues holding rallies.