CNN: As Belarusians take to the streets, authoritarian leaders rally behind Lukashenko

[visionary]

 

[China]

Belarus government blocks top media outlet, detain reporters

 

The Belarusian authorities on Thursday blocked the website of a leading online media outlet and detained several of its journalists, the latest move in a sweeping crackdown on dissent and independent media in the ex-Soviet nation.

 

Belarus' Information Ministry said it has blocked Nasha Niva's website after the Prosecutor General's office had accused it of posting unspecified unlawful information.

 

The Belarusian Association of Journalists, or BAJ, said that the authorities conducted searches at Nasha Niva's offices, detained its chief editor Yahor Martsinovich and editor Andrey Skurko and searched their apartments. Another four Nasha Niva journalists couldn't be reached, the BAJ said.

 

Nasha Niva journalist Аrtsem Harbatsevich likened the crackdown to the authorities' earlier action against another top independent news portal, Tut.by, which similarly saw its website blocked and journalists detained in May.

 

“It's a crackdown on the editorial office in the worst Soviet-era tradition,” Harbatsevich told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Minsk.

 

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[China]

Poland Claims Mounting Evidence Minsk, Moscow Orchestrating Migrant Flow Across Border

 

Poland says it has mounting evidence that Belarus, backed by Russia, is orchestrating the wave of illegal immigrants pouring across its borders and into the European Union.

 

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters on September 20 that no one believes Minsk is acting alone in sending thousands across Belarus's borders with Poland and Lithuania in retaliation for sanctions on authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his regime following a disputed 2020 presidential election that prompted a sometimes violent crackdown on opposition politicians and independent media outlets.

 

"We have a lot of evidence in our hands that it is a systematic, organized action on the side of Belarusian officials and the Belarusian police," Morawiecki said.

 

"We're dealing with a mass organized, well-directed action from Minsk and Moscow," he added, noting that as many as 7,000 migrants -- mostly from the Middle East-- had been spotted on the border since early August.

 

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