Clouds Over the Minsk Spring

Who among us is as brave as these people?

The crackdown began just after 3 a.m., when police officers wearing black riot helmets and masks arrived on six large trucks and surrounded the small encampment in October Square.

The demonstrators, who had been protesting a rigged presidential election last Sunday, stood their ground while the officers dismounted and jogged into place in lines, cutting off any chance of escape.

The US and EU have finally agreed on something; both will impose sanctions on ruling thug Alexsandr Lukashenko.  Belarussian dissidents are active on the net, mainly through Students for Global Democracy.  As of today, they’re still on line:

The Belarusian authorities finally cracked in the early hours of March 24, breaking up the tent camp and arresting hundreds of protesters in central Minsk. These demonstrators, mostly young men and women, had been holding a small portion of the square since last Sunday when the election results were announced.

Information is trickling in about the condition of the detained demonstrators, though one thing is for sure ““ as western media attention decreased with the declining crowd numbers, the KGB and Belarusian police gathered their forces and moved it.

This isn’t over.