BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28 Jul 2005 09:45:37 GMT

Belarus special forces storm Polish Union building

Source: Reuters

MINSK, July 28 (Reuters) - Belarussian special forces stormed a building used by ethnic Poles in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday near the border with Poland, a witness said.

It is the latest in a series of moves against ethnic Poles in the ex-Soviet state in the last three months after President Alexander Lukashenko -- described by U.S. officials as Europe's last dictator -- accused Poland of plotting an uprising.

"At first, the building was encircled by police cars. Then police demanded everybody leave the building. When nobody agreed, special forces stormed the building," the witness, a member of the Union of Poles who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

"Those who did want to leave the building were grabbed and taken to police cars."

He said about 18 people, including several journalists, were detained in the operation in the western town of Grodno, near the Polish border. All were later freed.

Officials at the Belarussian Interior Ministry declined to comment.

Belarus has a 400,000-strong Polish minority and the Union of Poles, which has about 20,000 members, complains of government persecution. The Justice Ministry has said it plans to shut down the Union because of illegal activities.

The storming follows Wednesday's court sentencing of three Polish activists to up to 15 days in prison for staging an illegal street concert of Polish songs earlier this month.

Lukashenko has repeatedly accused the West of funding the opposition and plotting to overthrow him. He has tightened security in his country of 10 million people after revolutions in other former Soviet states.

The government has expelled three Polish diplomats from Minsk in the last two months. Poland retaliated.

Source:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28482314.htm