Belarus police will be permitted to use combat weapons in the streets if needed, the country's Interior Ministry said on Monday as security forces again clashed with protesters who want the incumbent president to quit after a contested August 9 election.
The warning came after security forces cracked down on the protests on Sunday, with more than 700 reportedly detained, and an unexpected meeting between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and opposition figures at a jail in Minsk.
Read more：Belarusian president visits jail to meet opposition: state media
People attend a rally in Minsk, Belarus, October 11, 2020. /Reuters
The ministry confirmed that police had used flare guns and tear gas to disperse an unauthorized rally on Sunday.
"The protests, which have shifted largely to Minsk, have become organized and extremely radical," it said in a statement. "In this regard, the Interior Ministry's employees and internal troops will not leave the streets and, if necessary, will use special equipment and military weapons."
Belarusian law enforcement officers detain a man during an opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus, October 11, 2020. /Reuters
Belarus' first deputy interior minister, Gennady Kazakevich, claimed that protests had become "extremely radical," saying stones and bottles had been thrown at police on Sunday by protesters armed with knives who built barricades and set fire to tires.
"This has nothing in common with civil protest," said the deputy minister. "Groups of fighters, radicals, anarchists and football fans" were taking part.
Belarusian law enforcement members use a water cannon to disperse a crowd during an opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus, October 11, 2020. /Reuters
The police statement has prompted EU foreign ministers, who were at a meeting in Luxembourg, to agree it was time to add the president to the sanction list that earlier targeted 40 officials over an alleged rigged election and intensified a police crackdown on mass street protesters. The EU had held back from penalizing Lukashenko himself, hoping to persuade him to engage in dialogue with opposition forces to resolve the crisis.
Tens of thousands of Belarusians have demonstrated every weekend since the election, in which Lukashenko was declared the winner. His opponents have insisted the vote was rigged, a charge denied by the president.
The crackdown ended any expectations that a prison visit by Lukashenko to hold over four hours of talks with critics held in jail at the weekend marked any change in approach.
(With input from agencies)