BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

31/08/2006

Opposition Activist, Reporters Detained In Belarus

PRAGUE, August 31, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Belarusian police have detained an opposition activist who believes he was fired from work because of his political activities.

Police seized Ales Chyhir, a city councilor and a history teacher, shortly after he chained himself to a lamppost near the building of Babruysk city council, in the eastern region of Mahileu.

Twelve other people, including 11 reporters who were covering Chyhir's protest action, were also taken to a police station. An RFE/RL Belarus Service correspondent was among them.

Chyhir was the head of the local campaign headquarters of Alyaksandr Milinkevich, the united democratic opposition challenger of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in this year's presidential election.

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/08/C6A8EF9C-823C-44BD-8498-09305BFD5676.html